


' ) 

1 









m 



^'/fe^' 'it;!,- 

»J' ri^lffi, *■:,"• v.. ., .',■ 
















n- "1.. I 



li- 






-* 









^^-n^. 



- >^ 



* «.<•' 












,^/ .J.* 



5"^^... 



0- ^o 








' ^^'\ \ 



T . • . - "^^ 




■ftp .'J*^* '^ V . 







• ♦^'V 



-^^ 



o 










* A^ ^^ *^^^' <^ 







fit.^'* 



^ • 












-^^0^ 








.•1 


















.^^ 



A >• » ^"Ok. 



PRACTICAL 
ROWING AND TRAINING 



PRACTICAL ROWING 

WITH SCULL AND SWEEP 



ARTHUR W. STEVENS 



AND 

THE EFFECTS OF TRAINING 

BY 

EUGENE A. DARLING, M. D. 
I 

|\^ Illustrated from Photographs 



^^ 



\s 



^ 



BOSTON 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 
1906 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS j 

TwoCooies Received 

FEB 16 1906 

Jf Caeyriffht Entry 

TTfi rr 

COPY B. 



J 






Copyright, 1906, 
By Arthur W. Stevens. 



All rights reserved 



Published February, 1906 



THE UNIVERSITY FRESS. CAMBRIDGE. U. S. A. 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Introduction i 

I. Rowing Terms . 4 

The Catch 5 

Drive 6 

The Finish 10 

Recover 12 

Rushing the Slide 15 

Reach 19 

Hanging 20 

Falling Over 22 

Shoot 23 

Following 24 

Slumping 26 

Meeting the Oar 27 

II. Oars AND A Boat 29 

Rowing in Fours 33 

"Waist-four" 34 

The Stroke Unit 35 

Time 48 

III. The Coxswain s^ 

Turning Around 58 

IV. Outboard Work 62 

Clipping 64 

Reaching Something 65 

Making a Landing 68 

V. All Eight 70 

The Stretcher y^ 

Wind Resistance yy 

Beveling 79 

Overworking the Recover 81 

Slow and Slowed Slides 82 

The Logic of the Slowed Slide 84 



vi Contents 

Page 

VI. Sculling 2>d> 

Control of Oars or Sculls 88 

Getting in 90 

The Stroke 94 

Look out Ahead 95 

Body Work 96 

Gather-catch 96 

Hindsight 99 

VII. The Coach . loi 



THE EFFECTS OF TRAINING 

A Study of the Harvard University Crews 

Introduction 107 

I. General Sketch of the Training 112 

II. Effects of Training 114 

III. Over-training 145 

Football and Rowing Compared 149 

I. Football Training 150 

II. Comparison of Effects of Rowing and Foot- 
ball 155 

III. Further Observations on the Effect of 

Rowing 155 

IV. After-effects of Training 159 

Dietary and Digestion Experiment .... 163 

Index 167 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



The Shoot Frontispiece 

Harvard Crew, New London, 1905. 

The Catch Page 6 

Harvard Crew, New London, 1905. 

Rear View of Position at the Finish . <. . " lo ' 

The Full Reach •' 19 

Falling Over on the Full Reach " 23 

Slumping, Meeting, and Feathering Under 

Water " 27^ 

Attention , . . " 35 

Kicking Out Slide "41 

Swinging Around the Oar " 44 

Strong Position on Full Reach ..... " 51 

Reaching with the Shoulders " 52"^ 

Bow-Legged Full Reach o " 53 ^ 

The Finish : a Strong Position " 66 

Taking off the Feather Preparatory to Bevel- 
ing at the Full Reach " 75 ' 

The Finish : a Weak Position " 80 



PRACTICAL ROWING 

INTRODUCTION 

Time may have been when rowing existed only 
as a means of getting from one place to another 
on the water, — a time which need not concern the 
present treatment of the subject, except as it fur- 
nishes examples for comparison with the art or, as 
it has come to be, the sport of rowing to-day. 

Rowing very naturally divides itself into two 
branches ; under one, head comes SculHng or in- 
dividual rowing, under the other head Rowing 
properly so called, collective and organized sweep 
rowing in pairs, fours, and eights. 

Sculling in the single boat or shell presents 
many opportunities for individual development and 
form along what may be called the lines of least 
resistance. In the scull or shell the rower is sole 
master of his craft and is alone responsible for its 
movements. I say master of his own boat, for I 
suppose him to be a sculler. To be sure he has 
found, for a while at least, that the boat was almost 



2 Practical Rowing 

master of him. Only with practice has come con- 
fidence and with skill has come individuality of 
style. As men vary in physical development, so 
their style of sculling varies and lends itself to 
power in one part of the effort of sculling and 
favors a weaker effort in some other part of the 
stroke. It is for this reason that there are almost 
as many styles of sculling as there are scullers; 
and while one may impart to another the funda- 
mental principles of sculling, the latter's working 
out of those principles is almost sure, for physical 
or temperamental reasons, to be at variance with 
them. 

The other form of rowing — the concerted effort 
of two, four, six, or eight men in a crew — is a 
much more complicated matter. For obvious rea- 
sons I shall consider the eight as the sweep rowing 
standard. In the eight-oared crew it is necessary 
to subordinate the individual to the larger crew 
unit. Therefore we must presently bring ourselves 
to think and say that the crew isy not are, rowing 
racing, or paddling. This fusing of the individu- 
ality of each man into the larger crew unit and the 
necessary subordination of individual character- 
istics can be accomplished without loss to those 
composing the larger unit, provided there is con- 
stant emulation and healthy rivalry among the 
candidates for the crew, and patient, constructive 



[ Tntroditction 3 

coaching from an impartial critic. For in a crew 
it is almost certain that there will be one man who 
is ideal perhaps in physical strength, — one who in 
this particular respect is just a little better than any 
one else. To attain to this condition of strength, 
or even to surpass it, should be the desire of the 
other candidates, while to this individual himself a 
quality of quickness or smoothness displayed by 
some other associate will appeal constantly, and he 
in turn will strive for its acquiring. 



I. ROWING TERMS 

Among the traditional and generally accepted 
terms relating to different parts of the stroke in row- 
ing — terms which have through constant repetition 
and the ** dinning" process come to be apparently- 
mere names — are the words *' catch " or ** be- 
ginning/' *' finish/' ** recover/' *' drive/' ** reach/' 
*' rushing the shde/' *' following/' *^ shooting " or 
" tossing the hands away/' *' hanging/' *' slumping/' 
'' falling over/' and other expressions suggestive 
of the proper and improper methods of perform- 
ing different parts of the stroke. 

To those who have followed rowing, or who have 
at one time or other rowed and been coached, it 
will not seem strange that the terms above referred 
to, often repeated and oftener shouted out to the 
crew by the coxswain,' are set down by many as one 
of the necessary evils of the sport, a sort of *' rig- 
marole " quite as inevitable as the cold shower 
that follows the order *' Over the heads " from the 
captain after a sloppy afternoon on the river. 

It is quite as true that any humanizing of these 
expressions, or enlarging upon them, is out of the 
question at the time when the force of their mean- 



Rowing Terms 5 

ing IS most needed, as when the crew is boated and 
out for a spin, with or without the coach. Few 
crews desire to spend several minutes shivering 
through a sermon, and few coaches desire to re- 
hearse generaHties the import of which should be 
in the mind of every man who has any interest or 
desire to be even reasonably proficient in rowing. 

To the end, then, of clothing these *^ dry bones'* 
of rowing terminology with the garment of their 
various equivalents let us consider at first the 
meaning of the words or expressions in their most 
apparent and natural relations. In this way we 
shall see that these terms lose their strictly dry and 
technical aspect to assume a more human and inti- 
mate character. 

The Catch 

Among college men, where sport naturally re- 
ceives greater attention than is possible elsewhere, 
a selection of one of the most saHent features in the 
game of baseball will serve as a not unfamihar ex- 
ample to illustrate one of the first moves in rowing, 
— the catch. 

To the observer, the act of catching a baseball is 
a perfectly definite one, whatever preparation there 
may have been before the catch. If the actual 
catch is not visible, it is usually audible enough to 
leave no doubt of its being instantaneous. The ele- 



6 Practical Rowing 

ment of gradual acquisition can be left entirely 
out of account, newspaper accounts of ** high flies 
gathered in " to the contrary notwithstanding. It 
must be noted that only the act of catching is being 
considered, and it is seen that, confining ourselves 
to the act alone, the catch is instantaneous and 
definite after the preparation has been completed. 
So, then, to turn to rowing, the catch or beginning 
of the stroke, the application of power to move the 
boat forward — the change of direction after the 
reach — should be sharp, immediate, and snappy. 
Sharp, so that it may cut in cleanly; immediate, 
so that it shall lose neither time nor space; and 
snappy, so that it shall be effective. 

Drive 

The drive, or leg drive, following immediately 
after the catch, is a very important part of the 
stroke. The old rule, ^' First make sure and then go 
ahead,'' might be rewritten, ** Make sure of the catch 
and then drive the stroke through.'' The idea 
of drive must not be confused with the landsman's 
alternative, — ride, — as it is too often by crews. 
Drive implies an action wherein power is used. 
The idea of persuasion or coaxing is not present. 
The drive of the legs in rowing is imperative. The 
boat is no longer left to herself, but is driven by 
the man behind the oar. Moreover, the drive must 







u 



Rowing Terms 7 

be steady, not merely a kick or boost. A golfer 
must be a very ''duffer" who is satisfied with a 
''drive " that sends the ball sputtering two or three 
yards from the tee. There must be the *' follow " 
to the drive to give it weight and direction. So, in 
rowing, the position must be firm, the body con- 
trolled, and the feet pressing solidly and evenly on 
the stretcher throughout the drive, — and longer, 
for the leg drive is ineffective unless it acts on the 
water by means of the oar. Therefore, the drive 
in its larger sense is not confined solely to the legs, 
but is continued by the arms, and becomes, in fact, 
the very stroke itself. 

It would be considered gross negligence on the 
part of a carpenter if he were to build a house and 
not drive the nails used in the construction all the 
way in. We should be obliged to go about com- 
pleting the work he had left unfinished, or run the 
risk of catching on projecting nails and injuring 
ourselves or our clothes. Yet many crews forget to 
finish one stroke before beginning the next, and in 
consequence go stumbling from one half-driven 
stroke to the next, tearing up the water on the re- 
covery, and for no other reason than that they have 
not driven clean as they went along. It is a mis- 
take to think that quantity is an adequate substi- 
tute for quality. One long drive of the oar in the 
water from catch to finish, a drive which keeps the 



8 Practical Rowing 

water piled up in front of the oar and leaves a 
chugging puddle behind the blade, is worth two or 
three half-drives that commence and end in the air 
and include a momentary jab at the water some- 
where in the middle of the stroke. 

It is not unnatural to regard the leg drive as the 
most important factor in rowing a boat where a 
sliding seat admits of the use of the legs in addition 
to the body and arms. Even here, however, there 
is a chance that the leg drive will be exaggerated, — 
yes, will exaggerate itself to the extent of pushing 
away the sHde without necessarily carrying the 
shoulders with it. To any one who has looked over 
Dr. D. A. Sargent's strength test charts, the fact 
that the legs are much stronger than the back must 
be well known. The legs are naturally the work- 
ing members, and as such are capable of a greater 
effort than the complex muscular structure of the 
back. When, therefore, the leg drive is used in 
rowing, it is important that it be no harder nor 
quicker than the back can hold the shoulders up 
to, or even carry them ahead of, lest the oarsman 
render himself open to the criticism that he is " bit- 
ing off more than he can chew.'' If the legs are 
driven down and the back is unable to hold the 
drive, nothing is gained ; the back is left behind, 
and instead of driving everything before it, the legs 
have only driven the sHde. The oar, instead of 



Rowing Terms 9 

being pulled through, has pulled the oarsman back 
for at least part of the stroke. The leg drive must 
not catch the body unprepared, but rather find the 
body anticipating, by the fraction of a second, the 
getting away, — the getting turned in the new direc- 
tion, after the recovery as well as after the stroke. 
For if the body work is to begin and end with the 
slide movement, the body must start quicker and 
move faster than the slide, because the slide or 
point where the body pivots moves in a straight 
hne backwards and forwards, but the shoulders 
above reach in front of the slide on the full reach 
and then swing in the arc of a circle to and back 
of the sHde at the finish of the stroke. Evidently, 
then, the shoulders and what controls them — 
namely, the muscles of the back and the pectoral 
muscles in front — must contrive to move the body 
faster than the shde because the body has further to 
go in the same length of time. If it must move 
faster, it must start quicker. The quick overcom- 
ing of the inertia of the body, and the momentum 
imparted to it, serves to act to the legs as a balance- 
wheel does to an engine ; for if the body can be 
started back simultaneously, or possibly just before 
the legs start their drive, its weight and its acquired 
momentum, coupled with the effort of the back 
muscles, can hold the hardest drive the legs are 
capable of, and for as long a time. Let the legs 



10 Practical Rowing 

start just the smallest interval before the back is 
ready and the back has the well-nigh impossible 
task of overtaking the legs. 

The Finish 

Another point that deserves attention is the 
end, or finish, of the stroke. The end of anything 
is still the thing itself, and not something else. So 
with the end, or finish, of the stroke. It is not a 
part of the recovery, nor should it in any way an- 
ticipate the recovery. In this instance I am con- 
sidering the motion of the blade in the water, and 
am presuming the balance to be even. If the finish 
is part of the stroke, then it must be governed by 
the rules which govern the stroke. The most ob- 
vious of these is that it must be in the water. It 
shares with the catch the quality of being instanta- 
neous, — more so, if possible, than the beginning, — 
for the reason that at the finish the boat is moving 
faster, and the blade must be taken out more 
sharply if it is to avoid pulling the boat off" keel. 
The finish may be the weakest part of the stroke, 
because while we had both the strength of the legs 
and that of the back combined in the first and mid- 
dle parts of the stroke, the finish must be left to the 
arms almost entirely. It must be rem.embered, 
however, that the value of the arms is hardly less 
than the combined legs and back, for it was for 




Rear View of Position at the Finish. 



Elbows down. 
Page 10. 



Rowing Terms 11 

them to start or pick up the boat, and then, having 
given the push, to leave the adjustment of balance, 
and the now comparatively easy task of carrying 
the constant pressure of the blade in the water, 
through to the end to the quicker moving arms. 
It is much easier to keep the boat moving after it 
has been started than to set it in motion, so that, 
while the arms may not compare favorably in 
strength with the combined effort of legs and back, 
their actual value is fully as great, if not greater ; 
for it is for the arms not only to finish up what 
has been started by the mechanical movement of 
legs and back, but also to reduce and adapt the 
mechanical movement to the requirements of 
balance. 

To get the full value of the arms in finishing the 
stroke, the elbows should be kept down by the 
body, and not lifted out and away from it. This 
rule should be particularly observed with respect 
to the outside arm, — that is, the arm nearest the 
end of the oar handle, — in order that the power 
may be applied or continued at right angles to the 
oar and in the line of the forearm. In other words, 
it must be remembered that in speaking of pulling 
an oar, the word ^^puU" is meant, not ''push," nor 
**letgo," as the end of the stroke comes round. If 
the outside arm consisted of an upper arm, while 
for the forearm and hand a strap and hook were 



12 Practical Rowing 

substituted, the value of this now miscellaneously 
composed member would not be perceptibly les- 
sened as far as rowing is concerned. If it is borne 
in mind, then, that the outside hand should hook 
around at the end of the oar handle, and that the 
angle between the oar and the forearm should be 
maintained as near ninety degrees as possible, so 
that the hook can always pull and not be too busy 
holding, clinging, or cHmbing round the end of 
the oar (perhaps so as not to bump into the body), 
and not tend to slip off entirely and so miss being 
in at the finish, the elbows will come in naturally 
by the side, and the pull will be maintained as it 
was started — to the finish of the stroke. 

Recover 

The object of the recover, — or means to that end, 
the reach, — must be kept in view, but the re- 
cover itself must also be considered. A full under- 
standing of the means will make the acquiring of 
the end more accurate. The recover might be 
called a prolonged dead-center in the stroke. It 
is the time Vv^hen what has been done must, accord- 
ing as it has been well or ill completed, carry the 
boat along and balance her at the same time. It 
is during this period that the crew must try to steal 
a march on its own boat by getting from its posi- 
tion at the finish of one stroke out again to a 



Rowing Terms 13 

position of readiness for the next stroke without 
disturbing equilibrium or retarding speed. 

Few crews find balance to be an inherent quality 
in the boats they row, nor do they find that during 
the recover their boats will acquire on-keelness that 
has not been given and left with them at the end of 
the previous stroke. A shell eight is manifestly 
top-heavy; and while it can be rowed along after a 
fashion on one side or the other, when the attempt 
is made to get ready for another stroke and the oars 
are withdrawn from the water and what little sup- 
port there was is removed, the boat lurches to one 
side and a clean recover is impossible. On the 
other hand, if the boat has been carried through the 
stroke on an even keel and the power is taken off 
simultaneously by both sides finishing together, and 
moreover if the oars are lifted out in unison, there 
is no choice on which side the boat shall fall, and, 
aided by the steadying oars, she hangs in the bal- 
ance. While she thus hangs, the crew steals out 
to the next stroke. In using the expression *' steal 
a march,'' the simile, in so far as it suggests the skil- 
ful and careful control of the motions of the crew 
as distinguished from blundering haste with its 
scuffle of oar blades, applies to a less strenuous 
sort of rowing, though it may be said to underlie 
any form of rowing in shell boats. For the most 
part, however, where rowing practice looks toward 



14 Pi^actical Rowing 

racing, the oarsmen must assume a more frankly 
aggressive position and must acquire, actively, the 
control over their boat. 

This brings us to the consideration of the values 
of inertias in an eight-oared crew in their relation to 
the recover. An average eight-oar crew will weigh 
rather more than three times its steersman, boat, 
and oars' weight. It is important that this excess 
of weight, this inertia, contribute not only to mo- 
mentum, but also to balance. The oars may, and 
unquestionably do, contribute much to balance; but 
it can be easily seen that, with a cross wind, the 
oars on the side from which the wind is blowing 
will tend to unbalance the boat more than the 
opposite oars can tend to balance. It is in such 
cases that the inertia of the crew should be directed 
toward holding the boat from rolling. This can 
be accomplished only by forcing the inertia of the 
crew into the boat through the feet and stretcher, 
since these are the only fixed points of contact. 
That this is intended in present-day rowing appears 
from the fact that the feet are held in the stretchers 
as in a sandal. More, they are held, one on one 
side and one on the other side of the keel, thus 
making adjustment of balance possible by varying 
the pressure, or lift, with one foot or the other 
on or from the stretcher during the recover, and 
for the same reason that the oars balance the boat. 



Rowing Terms 15 

The oarSy by their length, act as balancing poles 
or long levers, while the diminished length of the 
lever on which the feet act is i7i some measure com- 
pensated by the weight or force exerted through that 
short lever. The toe straps, as they are called, are 
to the recover what the stretcher is to the stroke. 
They give the rower as firm a hold on the boat 
from within and as much control as he has a mind 
to exercise. 

When favorable conditions of weather prevail 
and when a crew gets its bearings, its swing or beat, 
and above all, its watermanship, this use of the toe 
straps throughout the recover becomes less neces- 
sary, and is scarcely more used than to bring the 
crew back on its stretchers as the bodies start the 
recover. 

Rushing the Slide 

One of the most persistent faults among crews 
is that of rushing the slide during the recover. 
The idea of rushing is about as foreign to the mean- 
ing of recover as was ** grab '' to '* reach," some 
lines above. We speak of recovery of property, 
of recovery of health from weakness to strength, 
and we mean we are getting back our property, are 
getting back to health and strength. We have n't it 
back ; we are getting it back, or recovering. There 
is an idea of gradual reacquisition. This gradual 



16 Practical Rowing 

getting back is not described, nor can be termed 
rushing. As convalescence looks toward health, 
so recovery. And the recovery in rowing, a going 
from the weakness of the position just after the 
finish of the stroke to the position of strength from 
which to drive the boat again, is a gradual move- 
ment in which rushing can have no part. 

The slide on which the oarsman sits is a sort of 
movable thwart which enables him to move back 
and forth in a horizontal squat. It is the lack of 
control in bringing the slide out to the full reach that 
constitutes rushing the slide. The cause of rushing 
is mainly the fault of not getting started on the 
recovery soon enough, and, consequently, having to 
make up for lost time by hurrying the last part of 
the movement. More than this — more than the 
desire to get out to the full reach on time — is 
the desire to get there while the boat is on keel. 
It is something that suggests football to see a crew 
diving out for the full reach, lunging forward to 
tackle the water with the firm conviction that the 
end amply justifies the means. 

The effect of rushing the slides is to stop the 
headway of the boat between strokes. In rushing 
out on the slides, the crew acquires considerable 
momentum in a direction opposite to that in which 
the boat is travelling. To be more accurate, the 
crew tends to remain stationary while the boat 



RGwinp: Tervis 17 



^^ 



glides forward. So far so good. Now the crew has 
come to the end of its slides and is brought up on 
its feet all standing, and that, suddenly. Eight men 
have stopped themselves on their stretchers or foot 
braces, as if landing from a jump. These men weigh 
between twelve and thirteen hundred pounds, while 
the boat, with coxswain, weighs about four hundred 
pounds. Is it any wonder, then, that the boat slows 
down, if she does n't quite stop, when three times Iter 
own weight p2ishes suddenly tozvard the stern for a 
mxoment before catching hold of the water with its 
oars? Something must give Vvay, and that some- 
thing is the speed of the boat. The two remedies 
for stopping the boat between strokes are, first and 
obviously, slowing the slides ; and, second, a quicker 
catch. With a slowed slide the stop is less jerky, 
and tends less to push the boat astern. A man may 
be able to crawl on all fours over ice which is so thin 
that, should he stand up, he must inevitably break 
through. So a crew, by distributing the weight that 
must be stopped through the recovery, instead of 
having the weight come to a stop all at once, — 
in other words, by letting itself down easily on its 
foot braces, — will not check the speed of the boat, 
and will be in a stronger position for the catch. 

The other method for curing the hitching or 
stopping of the boat between strokes, while not 
altogether to be recommended, is possible to good 

2 



18 Practical Rowing 

watermen. It consists in catching the water quicker, 
and before the boat can lose way. This style of 
stroke is more on the wound-up order, and reduces 
the body work forward and back to a minimum, 
and leaves the stroke to be rowed with legs and 
arms. The reason for reduced body work may be 
found in the speed or rapidity of the motions. It 
would be quite impossible for the body to keep up 
with the wound-up stroke without an effort which 
would wear out the crew. As it is, the crew rushes 
forward to the full reach with bodies but slightly 
incHned. The tendency to overreach, or to fall 
over on the full reach, is minimized by having this 
part of the movement reduced to a slide reach. 
The fairly erect body in its natural position per- 
mits of getting the oars in as soon as the slide end 
is reached, and more quickly than when, with body 
inclined beyond the perpendicular, the angle be- 
tween body and arms is greater and the position 
a more strained and unnatural one. 

So, then, the wound-up stroke has an element 
of naturalness and simpHcity to commend it. The 
work is done by the working members — the legs 
and arms. It is a stroke, however, of quantity 
rather than one of quality. The object is how 
many, rather than how well. As a remedy for stop- 
ping the boat it is a superficial one, and does not 
correct, but rather counteracts, if possible. 




The Full Reach is in the Water. Page 19. 

{Compare plate faci7ig j>age 52.) 



Rowing Tervis 19 

Reach 

So closely allied to the catch of the water is the 
reach, or full reach, that it is worth while taking it 
up in immediate connection with the catch. I shall 
consider the full reach as being more exactly iden- 
tified with the catch. 

The position at the full reach, or full forward, is 
at the logical limit of the reach proper, or at the 
end of the recover, so called. It is evident that 
the full reach is a definite though not necessarily 
fixed point. It remains to determine where this 
point is with reference to the oar blade and the 
water. The end of the reach, or full reach, is the 
end of an effort to reach something, and that some- 
thing is the water. The mere arrival at the end of 
the body and slide reach in-board is not, of neces- 
sity, the full reach, as many seem to think. Rowing 
comes under the head of aquatic sports, and is not 
a simple gymnastic horizontal squat. The arms 
are the most important features in the full reach. 
It is they, and the control over the oar which they 
exercise, that let the body and legs get at the 
water. It is of primary importance, then, that while 
acting in sympathy with the legs and back, the 
arms still and always follow the water. And by 
this is meant that the adjustment of the arms for 
one full reach may not do for the next stroke nor 



20 Practical Rowing 

the second. The exact place where the water may 
be found at the full reach, the exact angle between 
the arms and the body, is variable as balance va- 
ries, as conditions of the water vary from stroke to 
stroke and from day to day. 

The dictionary meaning of the word ^' reach " 
may not be entirely without a helpful suggestion. 
To reach for, to seek to attain, implies a gradual, 
prolonged effort, which is in marked contrast to 
the meaning of to grab after, or to snatch. In the 
case of reach, the idea of balance, deliberation, 
calculation, and judgment exists to a greater or 
less extent. In the case of to grab, the idea of 
acquisition is foremost, and the means to this end 
are of little moment. The same word is used, and 
the same general idea conveyed, when speaking 
of reaching for a fragile vase on a shelf as when 
speaking of reaching for the water in rowing. The 
only difference is that in one case what we reach 
for is fragile ; in the other, that from which we 
reach must be carefully treated — the balance of 
the boat must not be destroyed by a lunging, 
helter-skelter grab for the water following a hurried 
or rushed recover. 

Hanging 

In connection with rushing, and as an outcome 
of it, we may consider what is termed ** hanging," 



Rowing Terms 21 

or " hanging at the full reach," and also *' falling 
over." An individual may hang at the full reach, 
or a whole crew may be guilty of ** hanging." 
They come to the full reach supremely unconscious 
of where they are for the moment. The body is 
as far forward as it is going, the oar blade has gone 
as far toward the bow of the boat as it can, and yet 
it has not reached anything. It has not reached 
the water, but hovers over it. Can a crew imagine 
that the boat is still to keep on travelling ahead 
while they hang on the full reach? It would hardly 
be fair to impute such ideas to any crew. What 
the trouble is, and why an individual or a crew 
hangs at the full reach, may be ascribed to two 
causes, the first and principal being the rushing of 
the slide. In the case of the individual who rushes 
his sHde, his rushing gets him out to the full reach 
before he or the rest of the crew is ready to catch. 
To be sure, his slide has a perfectly definite line of 
action; not so his body. If he has stopped or 
come to the end of his slide very suddenly, his 
body will be less sudden in its halting if, in fact, 
the body has not been toppled over by the sud- 
den stop. Suppose, however, that the body has 
stopped, as it were, close on the heels of the slide ; 
considerable eff'ort is required merely to halt the 
body, and unconsciously, perhaps, attention has to 
be given to the detail of this manoeuvre, and the 



22 Practical Roxdng 

main point has been forgotten, namely, that when 
the body ceases to move forward it should instantly 
start in the opposite direction w^ith no pause to 
break the cycle or continuity of the stroke. The 
same reason that prompts us to slow down for a 
very sharp turn, as, for instance, a street corner, 
should dictate a similar course as the one to pur- 
sue in coming to that change of direction at the 
full reach. Hanging at the full reach might be 
described, reverting once more to the turning the 
corner, as coming to the turning point, stopping, 
facing about, and then proceeding off in the new 
direction. There is enough of military precision 
in rowing without introducing halts or conceiving 
of the broken continuity of a cycle. 

The other reason for hanging at the full reach is 
that an individual who tends to rush his slide will 
find himself at the full reach before the rest of the 
crew and, rather than catch ahead, he will wait, or 
hang, until the rest of the crew are way forward. 
The remedy is the same : slow the slide and row 
the stroke through longer. 

Falling Over 

Falling over on the full reach is but an aggra- 
vated hang, or a delayed body reach. That is, as 
remarked some lines above, it is found impossi- 
ble to stop the body at the same time as the slide ; 







D 
^ 



o 

> 
O 



S 



Rowing- Terms 23 



^ 



the body tumbles down into the boat and the oar 
blade goes skyward. The result is that before the 
next stroke can be rowed, the body must be lifted 
up out of the boat perpendicularly until it is in 
a position to act in a horizontal direction. The 
delayed body reach is hardly more than another 
description of rushing the slide. In this case we 
consider that the slide has been rushed out leaving 
the body behind. If the body were to stop under 
these circumstances at the same time as the slide, 
it would have acquired no reach at all and would 
be bolt upright or even inclined backward. It 
would then remain for the body to get its reach 
after the slide had stopped, and as quickly as possi- 
ble. Getting a reach under these conditions could 
be little else than a lunge forward and an inevitable 
fall over on the full reach. 

Shoot 

As a remedy for this tendency to fall over we 
may consider the ** shoot," or shooting away the 
hands, and the follow, or blending in of the body, 
with the motion of the hands. 

We consider that the stroke, as far as it has been 
in the water, has been rowed through ; the boat is 
moving ahead at its best speed and the oars have 
been lifted out of the water by dropping the hands 
after they have touched the body. Combined with 



24 Practical Roxmng 

this dropping of the hands is the '^ shoot *' referred 
to above. It is natural enough to associate a gun 
with the idea of shooting. The actual shooting of 
a gun is not a gradual act, it is sudden, instanta- 
neous, and sharply defined by the explosion, and is 
consequent upon pulling the trigger. Further- 
more, we speak of muzzle velocity as being the 
greatest which the projectile has in its flight, that 
is, the start is the quickest part of the flight of the 
shot. After this, the shot moves slower and slower 
till'it is '* spent." The requirements for the shoot 
in rowing are similar to those which have been 
noted as incident to a gun shot. The first require- 
ment is initial velocity — getting the hands away 
from the body instantly, their motion being quick- 
est at the beginning as in the case of the shot. 
The use of the word *' toss '' for '* shoot '' can be 
justified if we are willing to substitute " gather '* 
for ** catch '' in rowing. It 's too leisurely a term. 
If we are to get the oar out of the water and 
away cleanly, it must be done quickly with a 
*' drop shoot/' 

Following 

Initial velocity exists, as the words suggest, 
only at the beginning; and this is the part of 
the shoot and the only part that we need to con- 
sider, for the reason that the recover is a controlled 



Bowing Terms 25 

and comparatively gradual movement. The shoot 
must therefore be brought immediately under con- 
trol before the arms have become straight, else 
there will be a hitch or break in the rhythm between 
the time when the arms have moved as far as they 
can go and the time when the heavier body can be 
started out after them. The blending of the move- 
ment of the body in the recovery with that of the 
hands and arms is accomplished by following. 
Having cleared the water with the oar blade, and 
shot the hands away, we must get after the hands 
with the body, or we must shoot the hands away 
to arms' length no faster than it is possible to fol- 
low them up with the body. And, that there may 
not be too much slowing down thus early in the 
recover, the body should be started almiost at the 
samic instant as the hands. In this way the blend 
between body and arms is made more gradual, and 
the quickness in the early part of the recover 
allows a perceptible slowing down for the true 
reach. It must be borne in mind that it is easier 
to differentiate between fast and slow than it is 
to go from a slowly started recover to a still 
slower full reach; for if the start of the recover 
be slow, the only change to be made will be to 
go faster, and instead of steadying down for the 
full reach we shall come tumbhng forward, any 
way to get there, and *' hanging " or '' falling over " 



26 Practical Rowing 

will follow as a natural sequence. Following is 
not accomplished jerkily nor by allowing the body 
to stay back until the arms are straight. The re- 
cover is not jerky and is not to be done by fits 
and starts. To blend arms with body and body 
with slide, it must be the endeavor of the oars- 
man to make the straightening of the arms carry 
the body with it. He must see that the whole 
forward movement is smoothly continuous, and 
that when the arms have about finished moving 
at the elbow the body shall take up the motion, 
and when the arms and the body have moved suffi- 
ciently to uncover the knees, the slide should fol- 
low along. The greater the skill, the closer will 
be this following, until it will almost seem as if all 
started at the same moment. 

Slumping 

When the stroke has been rowed through and 
the oar is being drawn in to the body by the arms 
for the finish, care must be taken that the pivot 
shall be always at the slide, and that the body 
shall remain straight throughout its length. It 
is at this point that the back displays a tendency 
to round out, bending from a hinge about halfway 
up. There are several results arising from this 
slump at the finish, the most evident being that 
if the body is not kept up at the finish, either the 



Rowing Terms 27 

finish will be neglected or it will necessitate draw- 
ing the hands in at an unnatural level, thus im- 
pairing the value of the latter part of the stroke. 
Another thing about slumping is that it is a per- 
pendicular drop into the boat or a settling, and as 
such tends to sink the boat deeper. Follovv^ng the 
slump there must be a recover, and this means lift- 
ing in the boat to get back into position for the 
next stroke. 

Meeting the Oar 

Closely allied to slumping is meeting the oar. 
Instead of holding the body back firm and rowing 
the oar in to it, the body is pulled up to meet the 
oar after the legs are down. In this way the stroke 
is shortened by the length of the body swing 
backwards beyond the perpendicular; for, if the 
body goes to meet the oar, we must infer that the 
boat is stronger than the rower, and that as he 
could not pull the oar and the boat through to 
himself, he pulled himself up to meet the oar. 
Slumping, then, may be called a weakening of the 
finish, and meeting may be termed a shortening 
of it. The cure for both is to stand well on the 
feet, and to swing straight back beyond the per- 
pendicular, pivoting only at the hips, and holding 
the body firm anchored until the hands have been 
drawn in to it and started away again. 



28 Practical Rowing 

While the matter of meeting is up it may be well 
to mention the difference that there is in this one 
respect between scull rowing and sweep rowing. 
The oar handle in a sweep goes across the body 
and is only pulled in to it, consequently the body 
must swing well back in order to give length to the 
stroke, — particularly in a slow stroke. In the 
case of the sculling boat, the sculls are finished 
outside and past the body at the end of the stroke. 
This makes a shorter body swing back possible, 
and even allows the sculler to do what in the sweep 
oar would be called meeting. Only here it is not 
meeting for the reason mentioned above ; namely, 
that the sculls do not have to stop at the body, but 
can be pulled well by it on either side, and the 
length of the stroke thus maintained. 



II. OARS AND A BOAT 

It is time to get into the boat and try some of 
the movements just described. An eight-oared 
boat is a dehcate piece of mechanism, and should 
be handled with precision and unity of movement. 
First of all the oars must be brought out on the 
float, four starboard or right hand oars, and four 
port oars to be used on the left hand side of the 
boat. In an ordinary row boat there is no left or 
right to be looked out for in the matter of oars, but 
with the spoon oars the case is different. Each oar 
is " buttoned '' at about three feet and one-half from 
the handle end. The button on the oar is a metal 
or leather collar around the oar to prevent its slip- 
ping out through the rowlock. The leather, which 
is a sort of cuff surrounding the oar and extending 
from the button three or four inches toward the 
blade, is fastened to the oar by a row of tacks in 
each of the edges that meet around the oar. This 
fastening is in the plane of the oar blade, that is, 
if the blade of the oar is perpendicular, as in rowing, 
the fastening should be uppermost in the rowlock, 
leaving the part of the leather which rests against 
the lock smooth and without joints. I have said 



30 Practical Borving 

should he rather than is uppermost, because an 
oar may be put in a lock on either side of the boat. 
The oar, however, is further adjusted so that when 
it is resting flat on the water the blade is not per- 
fectly level, but has its forward edge slightly tilted 
up to prevent its catching and carrying under when 
it strikes a wave. On the up-tilted side of the oar 
then, and when the oar blade is flat on the water, on 
the side nearest the bow of the boat should be the 
fastening of the leather. This must be carefully 
observed in placing the oars in their oarlocks or 
it will be a source of trouble if not disaster before 
the crew has taken many strokes. 

The oars having now been picked out, are carried 
down and placed with blades extending over the 
inside edge of the float so that the blades shall not 
be in danger of being stepped on when the boat is 
brought down. If the leathers are new and dry, 
a little grease should be rubbed on to insure their 
turning easily in the locks. The eight oarsmen then 
take their places to lift their boat from the racks 
at the command of one of their number, or whoever 
is in charge. With four on a side the ship is carried 
out to the float, care being taken to keep her always 
** on keel '' whether upside down or as she is to 
float. The eight men should be in step and should 
remember that from the instant they touch the 
boat and all the time that they are rowing or 



Oa7^s and a Boat 81 

handling their craft, they should act in unison 
and under the orders of the captain or steersman. 
Each man should feel the edge of the float with 
one foot as the boat is being put into the water 
and the boat should be lowered into it so that she 
shall not scrape or touch anything which will in 
anyway injure her. Further, she must go in '* all 
at once,'' that is, both ends should be on a level 
and should touch the water at the same time to 
avoid straining. The men at the bow and stern 
of the boat hold her off the float, the coxswain 
adjusts the rudder, and the others get their own 
oars and those of the men holding the boat. 

If the crew is not manning its boat directly, the 
outside oars should not be allowed to float with 
blades in the water as a breeze or current will 
swing the oar round so that it cannot be reached 
when it comes time to get into the boat. The oars 
should, in this case, be slipped into the locks and 
allowed to rest across the boat on the gunwales. 
The inside oars, of course, should be shipped, 
pushed out to the button, and the pins locked, or 
the oarlock closed, by whatever device happens to 
be in use. 

Where, as in America, most crews are rigged 
over the keel, the men take the places assigned 
to them at the order, '' In Starboard " (and, or) 
*' In Port/' or some like command, the side not 



82 Practical Roidng 

embarking holding the boat away from the float 
so that she may not rest on her outriggers. 

A good many men in bringing down a boat and 
manning her for the first time seem to forget that 
they really did carry with comparative ease a craft 
between fifty and sixty feet long. That she was 
light enough to be carried must testify to a light- 
ness of construction, as well as to the brawn of the 
carriers. This lightness of construction must be 
borne in mind when getting into the boat and the 
strictest circumspection exercised. Let us sup- 
pose that the order has come *' In Port.'* We will 
further suppose that the port or left hand side of 
the boat is away from the float. The oars being 
in position, resting on the gunwale, the port men 
stand opposite their outriggers on the float facing 
the stern of their boat. First the port men seize 
the handle of their oar at the very end with the 
right hand, push the oar out to the button and 
with the right foot step on the framework, which 
supports the track for the sliding seat and between 
it at the end nearest the foot braces. Still facing 
the stern and still holding the oar in the right hand 
the v/eight of the body is thrown on the right leg, 
and squatting slowly on this leg, the left foot is 
placed in the foot braces, the left hand helping to 
support the weight of the body by holding on the 
gunwale till the rower is seated on the shding seat. 



Oars and a Boat 33 

The right foot is then placed alongside the left in 
the foot braces or stretcher. This rule, for it may- 
be called a rule, is almost inflexible, and in the case 
cited above the starboard men get in in the same 
way. Facing the stern, the right foot is placed 
between the tracks on which the slide moves and 
on the framework, never on the bottom of the 
boat, and the body lowered into the seat steadied 
by the disengaged hand. 

No rowing boat with outriggers ^ that depends on the 
oars to keep it balanced in the water^ should be 
e7itered until those who are to man it have in their 
control that on which the balance depends. 

Having taken their places in the boat the mem- 
bers of the crew must remember their numbers. 
Bow is number One, and so down to Stroke, who is 
number Eight The bow or starboard side has the 
odd numbers, while the stroke or port side has the 
even numbers. 

Rowing in Fours 

In the early stages it will be advisable to row in 
fours. The Bow Four, comprising bow, two, three, 
and four, may row for a time, while the remainder, 
or Stern Four, keep the boat steady. Number 
Five will have to give Four a little more room 
for his forward swing, and do this without 
getting his oar where it will interfere with Four's 

3 



34 Pi^actical Rowing 

finish. Number Five should slide up and hold his 
oar between his knees and his body. A similar 
economy of space should be practised when one 
side of the boat only is rowing, as in turning 
around. In this way, those who are not rowing 
keep out of the way of those who are, and at the 
same time they can keep the boat on keel by hold- 
ing the oar handles well up and maintaining a 
steady pressure with the oar blades on ^the surface 
of the water. 

'' Waist-four " 

In order to give the whole crew practice and 
also to link the Bow and Stern Four together with- 
out rowing the whole eight, what is called the 
'* Waist-four," comprising numbers Three, Four, 
Five, and Six, may alternate with the Bow and 
Stern Fours, and as the crew gets to handling it- 
self better the two men at the bow or at the stern 
may join with the Waist-four, while the remaining 
two steady the boat. 

In the early stages of rowing there is enough to 
think of without the added effort of trying to row 
with the boat first with one set of outriggers in the 
water and then the other. It is for this reason that 
practice in the tank or on the machines, or else in 
a broad, steady boat, or a narrow, steadied boat, 
is quite necessary until skill and confidence are 




The Position of Attention. Page 35. 



Oars and a Boat 35 

acquired. As soon as confidence and skill permit, 
the whole crew should row together, else with too 
much work in fours, the men will find that with all 
eight rowing, the boat will run away from them at 
the beginning of the stroke and they will be slow 
in catching up, or will fail really to drive the boat 
until the stroke is half over. A half stroke may be 
better than no rowing, if one iswilHng to do things 
by halves, but it is at best a lazy way of getting a 
boat along. 

Each man in the boat should be sure, since his 
oar is in an oarlock, that he has fastened the lock. 
The oarlock, if left open, is liable to spread, and 
let the oar slip out at an awkward moment when 
the crew is backing or holding, or when the water 
is rough and the oar strikes a wave during the 
recover. 

The Stroke Unit 

Having pushed off from the float let us suppose 
that the coxswain gives the order " Attention, 
Stern Four.'' Five, Six, Seven, and Stroke sit 
erect with legs down and thighs horizontal, hands 
grasping the handle of the oar and far enough 
apart to give room for the body between them, at 
the finish of the stroke, without having to pull 
either hand across the body. ^ The arms should be 
straight, the oar blade flat on the water, and the 



36 Pi^actical Rowing 

stern four prepared for the next order ^^ Ready." 
At this, they reach forward, and because they have 
a slide they reach with it as well as with the shoul- 
ders. That is, the same word that naturally gov- 
erns the forward motion of the shoulders should 
also govern the movement of the slide. If this is 
observed; there will be slide reach instead of slide 
rush out to the full reach. Then comes the order 
*^ Row'' or " Paddle.'' The oars are turned so that 
the blades are perpendicular and covered in the 
water, the back and legs are started, the arms 
remaining straight until the legs are nearly down 
and the back past the perpendicular. Legs and 
back having done their part of the work there still 
remains the draw-in with the arms to finish the 
stroke. This should be done steadily and smoothly 
and not with a jerk, pulling the body up. The 
boat is now in motion, and in order that the oars 
shall not drag or stop her, the blades must be 
Hfted out sharply and the body brought back to 
attention. To do this requires that the hands get 
away from the body, where they have just finished 
the stroke, sharply, with a " drop shoot." Instead 
of waiting at the attention, however, the recover is 
carried out to the full reach and the stroke pulled 
through again. The start was made at the order 
'' Attention," and the stroke beginning there is not 
complete until the body and oars are once more 



Oars and a Boat 37 

in the position of *^ Attention/' The boat could 
not move ahead if the oars were to stop at the 
finish because as we have seen the finish is part of 
the stroke and is in the water. If the boat is mov- 
ing and we call the finish the end of the stroke, or 
the end of the cycle of the stroke, we shall only- 
move the boat the length of that back swing. The 
oar blade must be lifted out and away ready for 
the next stroke. If the order be to **Let her run'' 
(stop rowing), we must be prepared to ** Hold " 
or *' Back," as may be necessary. The position 
of attention is the best starting point for another 
stroke or for a change such as is involved in back- 
ing or holding, for it permits the boat to run along, 
oars flat on the water and offering the least resist- 
ance to it. On the other hand, if it is necessary to 
stop the progress of the boat through the water, 
the position of attention, with body erect and arms 
straight, gives the body, already in a strong posi- 
tion, more time to adjust itself to this requirem.ent 
than if the oar were in close to the body, as at the 
finish. 

But to return to our Stern Four. They are 
rowing each man for himself. Later we may be 
able to say the Stern Four is rowing, but at present 
they are rowing, and we may look at them and see 
what the most obvious faults are. For the time 
they have not to concern themselves with keeping 



38 Practical Rowing 

the boat on keel, the Bow Four are looking after 
that. 

Stroke, or number Eight, has evidently rowed 
before, as his ability to put his oar in and take it 
out of the water clearly shows, but his inboard 
work needs brushing up. He gets forward well, 
but at the catch it is plain that the work is done 
not from the stretcher but from the seat. In other 
words, he catches by lifting with the shoulders and 
body, and lastly the legs are straightened out, 
apparently more with the idea of getting the knees 
out of the way of the oar handle than for any 
other reason. Stroke has a very good reason, no 
doubt, for his style of rowing, and he would justify 
it (if he were in a position to do so) somewhat as 
follows : He would start with the idea of first 
making sure, and then going ahead. That is, first 
get hold of the water and then go ahead with the 
rest of the stroke. Or to express it differently, 
he wants to be sure that his oar is buried and 
holding, or even starting the boat before he uses 
his legs. He knows that if he starts to use his 
legs by pushing against the foot braces or stretcher 
before he has caught the water, he will stop the 
boat, because he and the crew behind him in all 
probability outweigh the boat they row in, and 
should they start to drive the legs down before 
the oars were anchored in the water, the boat 



Oars and a Boat 39 

would be pushed astern, or at least perceptibly- 
stopped. The idea of first making sure, — of not 
rowing a stroke until he has made sure of catching 
or getting hold of the water with the oar, — could n't 
be improved upon. It is in the working out of 
that idea that our number Eight missed the point. 
Looking again we see that he is, as it were, putting 
his oar in the water with the movement of his 
body and shoulders, instead of reaching for the 
water with his blade as he comes forward. Stroke 
needs to Hmber up in the shoulder joints ; he must 
increase the angle between the arms and the body 
as he comes forward to the full reach. He must 
exert less downward pressure on the handle of 
the oar in coming out on the forward swing, and 
when he has reached the end of that swing, he 
must remove all downward pressure on the oar 
handle and let the blade drop in of its own weight. 
Then he will have made sure of having hold of the 
water, and the sooner he follows up this getting 
hold with a long pull, a strong pull and, best of all, 
a pull all together, that is, legs and back together, 
the more effective will his rowing be and the less 
of jerkiness and forgotten leg drive will there be. 
There will be less of sore knees and more of honest 
leg-tired feeling, too, if he will take the initiative 
and drive the legs down before they get in the way 
of the oar handle. His catch will be quicker, 



40 Practical Rowing 

because where he formerly depended on the snap- 
ping up of the back from a motionless slide he 
will now, in catching from his foot braces, add to 
the speed of the back, the speed of the slide, and 
incidentally add to the speed of the boat. 

*^ Don't try to row the whole boat yourself, 
number Seven/' As a matter of fact, we might 
say this to the whole Stern Four. They are all 
pulling hard, as if their lives depended on it, or 
as if they wanted to get it over with. 

Number Seven is a long-bodied man with rather 
short legs, and, as is quite usual in such cases, he 
has been economical with his development, devot- 
ing his training to the shorter half, with the result 
that his thighs and legs are very powerful, while the 
trunk and arms have only a moderate development. 
There is no trouble here about the legs getting 
down out of the way as in number Eight's case. 
Seven is slamming his legs down hard at every 
stroke, but he has set too fast a pace for his body 
to follow. He is using a comparatively short slide. 
This is natural enough because his legs are short. 
To make up for the shortness of sHde he is swing- 
ing a little further forward and back. And it is 
in the swing that the body gets behind. At the 
catch, could we see but the legs, we should say 
that Seven was a remarkable man, but we notice 
that the body is unable to hold what the legs 




Kicking out the Slide. Page ^i. 

{^Legs almost down; shoulders not started, A cofitnion fault. ^ 



Oars and a Boat 41 

undertake to drive. The body and shoulders are 
left behind at the catch and don't begin to hold or 
pull back till the legs are almost down. The slide 
moves faster than the shoulders on the catch. 
Seven is '* kicking out his sHde." He is ^* biting 
off more than he can chew." But he is not dis- 
heartened yet and, if we may continue the simile, 
we see him toward the end of the stroke give a 
convulsive movement, which may be likened to 
swallowing, and with a jerking in of his arms he fin- 
ishes with his oar in the pit of his stomach, his body 
curled over it. It was bad enough to attempt too 
much, but the summary disposition of the overload, 
with the body alone, is even worse, however good 
the intention. Seven has heard Stroke asked to 
use his legs and he takes the hint to himself, and 
with what result? Not only is his oar anchored 
out at the full reach, but his shoulders and the 
upper part of his trunk also stay there, and as the 
shde drives back and the body sinks lower in 
the boat, he is in a weak position, when at last 
the body is able to rise, after the legs have been 
driven down. I speak of the body's rising in the 
boat after being pulled down by the oar and may 
add here, that, as it is the object in rowing to get 
ahead in a horizontal plane, every up and down 
motion of the body is a waste of energy and a 
hindrance to the boat. For when Seven lifts his 



42 Practical Rowing 

body as he must do before he carries it back to the 
finish, he makes himself just so much heavier dur- 
ing the time of the Hft; he makes the boat just so 
much heavier or deeper in the water. He makes 
the boat displace more water — have more wetted 
surface and consequently increases the friction and 
retards the progress. And now before we leave 
Seven we must reiterate what we first said to him 
about not trying to row the whole boat. We may 
very properly caution him about jerking with legs 
at the full reach and with arms at the finish. He 
must remember that a chain is no stronger than its 
weakest link. If the legs are stronger than the 
back, the legs must give way a little and on its 
part the back must work a little harder, so that it 
may not be all concession but rather a leading up 
to a full application of power on the part of both 
body and legs. The one in leading must not be 
hopelessly far ahead and the one following must 
not hang back or try some other way separate and 
distinct from that which the leader is pursuing. 
Sympathy there must be. Sympathy to anticipate 
or to assist, to unite or to strengthen the various 
efforts made, and to make intimate and ally the 
parts of the human mechanism, eliminating any 
complexity or difference, the loopholes through 
which faults creep in. Take it a bit easier. Seven, 
carry through from full reach to finish a handful 



Oars and a Boat 43 

of oar all the way, a handful, not a handful at 
the catch, two fingers' worth in the middle, and a 
wish that you had three hands at the finish. Get 
the shoulders on and don't He down at the finish ; 
and we turn to number Six. 

Before watching number Six, however, we may 
have noticed an inclination on the part of some 
of the men in the bow to take off their sweaters ; 
whether in anticipation of being called upon to 
row or to display physique, we cannot stop to ana- 
lyze. Suffice it to say, that there is no camera 
about, nor can the coach stop to feast his eyes 
on a fairly well-built number Two or a muscular 
prodigy at four. The writer remembers that the 
most perfectly built man of his acquaintance was 
asked to try for a crew; and this Herculean 
Adonis was quite hopeless and slow and alto- 
gether unfit for the quick changes of direction that 
are demanded of the oarsman. None of the Bow 
Four may come under this category, but in order 
to avoid getting chilled it is of importance that 
those who are not actively rowing should keep 
covered, particularly during the spring or fall row- 
ing practice. 

It is better to be too warm than too cold. A 
chill caught on the river will work much more 
detriment to the candidate for a crew than will the 
exhibition of his physique benefit or increase his 



44 Practical Rowing 

chances of making the eight. And if by reason of 
being caught with his sweater on he has to row a 
fairly long stretch and loses, say a pound or two, 
he will make up that loss in a meal and be as well 
or better for it. On the other hand, if he catches 
cold he lays the foundation for many other trou- 
bles, which impair not only his value in the crew 
but his general health. 

Number Six, don't swing round your oar, keep 
your body opposite the stretcher, and let the hands 
and arms connect you up with the handle of the 
oar, whether the handle is over the keel or over the 
side of the boat. This brings up at once the ques- 
tion of whether the best pull is not at right angles 
with the oar. The oar being pivoted swings in the 
arc of a circle. Should not the body follow the ex- 
ample and swing in a similar circle to enable the 
pull to be always at right angles? And right here 
we must choose between following the oar and 
what may be called following the stretcher. 

That which is of prime importance is power, 
other things being equal. To maintain power a 
strong position is necessary. The strongest posi- 
tion is that in which the body remains in a per- 
pendicular plane, passing between the heels and 
extending parallel with the keel; that is, the body 
with the shoulders and legs should be made to 
keep opposite the stretcher in order that the maxi- 







P4 

<: 

O 

H 

Q 

O 
< 

g 

5 



Oars and a Boat 45 

mum of power may be had from them. If we are 
to maintain this maximum of power, the arms must 
do the adjusting. In this way the power itself is 
left unimpaired by any leaning from side to side. 
The human engine will work better, longer, and 
more satisfactorily the simpler its mechanism and 
movements are. If the position at the full reach, 
where it is manifestly impossible to pull at right 
angles with the oar, is not ideal, then the body and 
legs must be kept in an ideal position to make 
up in quantity or power what they lack in quality 
or in the directness of application of that power. 
The arms, from the catch to the time when the legs 
are almost down, are little more than straps, — straps 
rather than connecting rods, because they must 
have more than the freedom of movement allowed 
by a pivot. There is the perpendicular move- 
ment of the catch, and then the horizontal descend- 
ing movement while the legs and back are moving. 
Some explanation of a horizontal descending 
movement may be necessary just here. The best 
idea may be gained if we stand erect, with both 
arms extended to the front and raised so that the 
angle at the armpits is the same as the angle at 
the full reach in rowing. Now, instead of moving 
the body as in rowing, move the arms, the hands 
being on a level and four inches apart, until the 
angle at the armpits is the same as in rowing just 



46 Practical Rowing 

before the arms break for the finish of the stroke. 
This movement in relation to the body will be a 
perpendicular one; but there is another; a hori- 
zontal move to the left, demanded of the arms, and 
the one that we have just been commending to 
number Six's attention. He has failed to get the 
horizontal arm movement and has in consequence 
been swinging round his oar, or, as we said before, 
keeping his body opposite the handle of his oar 
instead of opposite his foot braces. His arms have 
had the stiffness of connecting rods with but one 
joint, rather than the suppleness of straps with a 
sort of universal joint. If Six were to go through 
the movement outlined above, his body would move 
horizontally to the right or left according as he 
had a port or starboard oar. 

The principal thing to be noticed is, that in the 
rowing, care must be taken to have the shoulder 
muscles loose and the joints there able to take care 
of the horizontal descending motion, which, in the 
boat with the oar, is a horizontal arc. It is not 
as if one had to begin or finish the stroke with the 
hands off keel. At the full reach the hands are 
directly in front of the shoulders, and at the finish 
the same is true. With two ends to tie to and the 
keel for a guide, when, in the middle of the stroke 
the tendency to lean is uppermost, number Six 
should find no difficulty in keeping upright and 



Oars and a Boat 47 

steady in his swing. In acquiring this over-the- 
keel habit it will come much easier if the stroke 
is rowed with but Httle power for the time being. 
When the feeling and assurance of having acquired 
this knack comes, then the power may be gradually 
increased until the full power stroke is rowed. 

Five, steady down on your sHde. You are rush- 
ing out to the full reach too fast. In fact, if Five 
were not one of the strongest men in the boat he 
would be in a fair way to have many other faults, 
resulting from lack of control of his slide in 
recovering. 

Some people hurry because they are late, others 
because they fear being late. Five, we will say, 
is afraid of being late, so, directly he gets his oar 
out after the finish of one stroke, he thinks only of 
being ready for the next stroke, and out he comes 
on his slide like a young avalanche. He has the 
goal in view, and the means of getting there on the 
slide are so obvious that he does not realize what 
effect his quick rush forward and sudden arrival at 
the end has on the boat. His quick stop is a push 
toward the stern and opposite to the direction in 
which he is trying to propel the boat. 

There are three parts to the recover. The nearer 
we get to the stretcher or the boat itself the more 
care has to be exercised. Arms and body start 
the recover, but have little or no effect on decreas- 



48 Pi^actical Rowing 

ing the speed of the boat, and may even help the 
speed, if started sharply enough. It is not until 
the slide begins to move forward, not until we get 
right down to the stretcher, that the ways and 
means of stopping have to be considered. As 
soon as the slide starts, however, we must think 
of stopping, must feel for what is going to stop 
us, must feel the stretcher with the feet more and 
more as we shde out toward it. To use a different 
expression, w^e must ** let ourselves down easy" as 
we come forward towards the full reach. The 
weight of the body as it comes more and more 
on the stretcher must be distributed throughout 
the recovery. The sooner the distributing process 
begins the less will be the kick astern as the body 
arrives at the full reach. 

Time 

Stern Four, let her run ; get your sweaters on. 
Take her up. Bow Four, is now ordered. Mind 
your time. Bow and Two. Number One and Two 
are rowing by themselves, as if there were no one 
else in the boat. 

Faults in time are always to be corrected as 
soon as noticed, and here is where the coxswain 
should keep a careful lookout, for he can see the 
oars at all times, though he may fail to see errors 
in the inboard work of his crew. 



Oars and a Boat 49 

Number Four, let your elbows come in close to 
your body, not out at right angles. Number Four 
has never tried pulling himself up to his chin on a 
horizontal bar, or, if he has, he forgets how he did 
it, or how his arms adjusted themselves for that 
effort, — how the forearm was always perpendicular 
to the rod or bar on which he was chinning him- 
self This is almost exactly what he is doing in 
the boat, only here he lets his elbows swing out 
until the forearms are almost in line with, or paral- 
lel to, the oar. While Four is working this out for 
himself and practising in the boat, let us see just 
where the mistake of this arm movement comes in. 

First of all, rowing is pulling an oar, not pushing 
it. That is, the oarsman is working behind his 
oar, and he gains nothing by getting round in front 
of it with his outside hand, just before the finish, 
and pushing the oar into his body the last three or 
four inches by a contraction of the biceps muscle 
alone. As to the other arm, its inability to get in 
front of the oar dooms it to a pull along the shaft 
in the direction of the oarlock. But we have seen, 
or if we have not seen we can discover by experi- 
ment, that when we have a heavy lift, as in pulling 
ourselves up to a rod, or to a ring, or in Hfting a 
heavy object from the floor, we Hft with the fore- 
arm in line with the direction of the Hft; that is, 
the forearm will be perpendicular for an up and 

4 



50 Practical Rowing 

down lift. In rowing, the lift, so called, is tipped 
over on its side and becomes a horizontal lift or a 
pull, and the same holds true as regards applica- 
tion of power. The forearm is a strap with a hook 
on it from the time the oar is covered until the oar 
handle comes in to the body. To make the out- 
side hand climb round the end of the oar and push 
the finish of the stroke in to the body while the 
inside hand presses the oar against the button is to 
lose much in effectiveness of the finish. 

Without entering into a detailed consideration 
of the muscles used in the latter part of the stroke, 
we may say that the most important are the 
biceps, which flex the arm, the trapezii, which 
draw the shoulder-blades back toward the spine, 
and the latissimus dorsi, which draws the arms 
inward and backward. Our number Four is using 
his deltoids overmuch on the finish, and in so 
doing has lifted his arms out from behind the oar, 
complicated muscular action, and has detracted 
from form as well as substance at the finish of the 
stroke. 

Furthermore, the shifting of the hold on the oar 
at the finish throws more work on the inside hand 
when it comes time to lift the blade out of the water. 
In fact, if we watch number Four closely, we shall 
see that his outside hand loses hold of the oar en- 
tirely, just after the finish of the stroke. The whole 




Strong Position on Full Reach, Page 51. 

{Knees in line with shoulders and /eei.) 



Oars and a Boat 51 

matter of lifting the blade clear of the water and 
carrying it forward in the ^* shoot '' is thus thrown 
upon the inside hand with its decreased leverage 
and consequently diminished control. 

In the days when the tholepin was in use it 
was customary to caution the oarsman to keep 
an outward pressure with the hand nearest the pin 
in order to keep the button on the oar close 
against it. This practically resolved itself into an 
injunction to row with the outside hand and re- 
cover with the inside hand. And while this idea 
still underhes stroke and recovery with the modern 
rowlock, the inside hand should act as pilot and 
adjuster of feather and bevel in conjunction with 
the outside hand and not alone. 

Number Three, keep your knees close together 
on the full reach. The knees should never be 
further apart than the width of the shoulders. 
Their being nearer together than this depends 
somewhat on the build of the oarsman. If he be 
stocky he will probably be more comfortable at 
the full reach with his knees apart than he would 
with his thighs pressing against his stomach and 
interfering with his breathing. Number Three 
will not go far wrong if he opens his knees so that 
they will be in a plane, which shall pass through the 
length of the foot and the shoulder-blade or arm- 
pit. This position is the one naturally taken by 



52 Practical Rowing 

most people when they squat down, and it has the 
further advantage of preventing the body from 
faUing too far forward on the full reach. At the 
same time it allows the lower part of the body a 
comfortable space for its reach. 

It must be remembered that the whole body is 
to reach not merely the shoulders. It is important 
for the breathing that the st07nach should not be 
drawn in to interfere with the downward expansion 
of the lu7tgs, A man who allows his knees to fall 
apart so that they rest almost on the gunwale of 
the boat at the full reach has, in nine cases out of 
ten, first to clap his knees together before he can 
drive his legs down. The most evident inferences 
that can be drawn from number Three's position on 
the full reach is, that he did not use his stretcher 
in his recovery. If he had used it he must have 
kept his knees closer together to support his 
weight as he came out to the full reach; for we 
notice that before he drives down his legs, or puts 
weight against his stretcher, there is a preliminary 
gathering in, if we may so call it, of the knees, in 
order that he may apply his power in a straight 
line or in one plane. 

We spoke about the thighs being more or less 
of a support for the body on the full reach. They 
define the limit of a strong full reach position 
beyond which the body must lose effectiveness, 




Reaching with the Shoulders. Page 52. 

{^Stomach drawn in. Deep breathing impossible. Thoroughly bad position 
at the order ''^ Ready.'''' Slide reach neglected.) 




Bow-Legged Full Reach. Page 53. 

{Knees trnist Jirst be brought toward each other be/ore a strong drive 

is practicable.^ 



Oars and a Boat 53 

because it drops down into the boat, and the little 
additional reach gained is more than offset by the 
extra effort required to lift the body up before it 
can swing strongly back. We may leave Three 
for a time, then, with the injunction not to row 
either knock-kneed, or, at the other extreme, bow- 
legged, but rather to toe out, as it were, with the 
knees, keeping them from six inches to a foot 
apart at the full reach. 

Number Two, you are slumping at the finish. 
Hold your body firmly back and feel your 
stretcher at the finish, just as you do at any other 
part of the stroke. 

Any part of the stroke or pull through is per- 
formed from the stretcher, and therefore the finish 
or end of the stroke must be executed from the 
stretcher also. The finish or end of anything is 
as much a part of the thing itself as the beginning 
or middle. At the finish of the stroke the body 
should stay firmly back as the hands are drawn in, 
so that the connection between the hands and the 
stretcher may not be impaired by a slump or yield- 
ing of the back. Slumping usually results from a 
change of pressure on the oar just before the finish, 
and might be called, *' over-finishing.'* It is not 
unhke the slip of the driving wheel of a locomo- 
tive. The remedy is the same — ''sand," and the 
even application of power. 



54 Practical Rowing 

Number One, or Bow, keep your hands nearer 
together. You want one hand on the end of your 
oar, and the other just far enough from it to allow 
room for the body between them for the finish of 
the stroke. 

If Bow should try to pry a stone out of the 
ground with a crowbar, or if he should attempt 
to draw a nail out of a board with a hammer, he 
would n't have to be told to apply his power as 
far away from the fulcrum as possible ; and yet, 
there he sits with one hand two or three inches 
from the end of the oar and the other hand half- 
way to the rowlock. He has a lever and a ful- 
crum and that which corresponds to the stone or the 
nail. The oar is his lever, the rowlock his fulcrum, 
and the water is what corresponds to the stone or 
the nail. The only difference is that his object 
in rowing is to move the fulcrum, instead of the 
water. In either case he needs all the leverage 
he can get, if he is going to do effective work. It 
would seem, then, that the two hands ought to be 
close together at the very end of the oar if his pull 
is to have the maximum of effectiveness. 

Suppose we watch Bow with his hands close 
together, first on the full reach, or, if we can't see 
him, try it ourselves. Extend the arms straight 
out in front, hands closed, palms down, thumbs 
together, and discover that this position tends 



Oars and a Boat 55 

to cramp the chest. Then try hanging by the 
hands from an overhead support, and observe 
where the hands naturally take hold, and see that 
they are about as wide apart as the shoulders. In 
these experiments we have been considering or 
studying our own convenience, but if we apply 
it to the theory of the lever, we find that having 
the hands wide apart is not good doctrine. But 
there is one more thing to figure on, and that is on 
the side of our convenience, and also on the side 
of effectiveness; namely, the necessity of having 
room between the hands at the finish of the stroke 
for the body. If this room is not left, the hand 
nearest the fulcrum or rowlock will have to be 
pulled in across the body and move in line w4th 
the oar, instead of at right angles to it. 

One more reason for keeping the hands but 
four inches apart is that at the full reach the in- 
board end of the oar is the point farthest from the 
body, and if both arms are to be straight, while 
reaching to unequal distances from the body, it 
will be impossible to keep the shoulders squarely 
opposite the stretcher if the hands are wide apart. 
About a hand's-breadth between the hands on the 
full reach, a level wrist on the outside hand and a 
bit of arching to the inside wrist is an adjustment 
which leaves the shoulders almost equally forward 
and the body squared away for the stroke. 



III. THE COXSWAIN 

Up to this point we have only commented on 
the work of those who are rowing, but there is one 
of the crew who is an important factor. It is the 
duty of the coxswain in the stern to be eyes for 
his crew, and a mentor to correct not only evident 
errors in time outboard, but errors in feeling 
inboard. The most common wrong feeling that 
the steersman can have, resulting from something 
which he cannot well see from his position in the 
stern, is a tendency to fall towards the bow of the 
boat as the crew comes to the full reach. He 
would bump his head against stroke's oar if he 
should yield to the impulse which he feels at the 
forward reach of his crew. If our coxswain an- 
alyzes the cause of this, he will first see that he 
falls forward because the seat on which he sits has 
suddenly moved backward, or at least that the 
onward progress of the boat has been suddenly 
checked, while he tends to keep on moving to the 
front. The crew then has stopped the boat, as it 
has come to its full reach, between strokes ; that 
is, the crew is rushing out to the full reach with 
but one idea, — the idea of getting there, and never 



The Coxswain 57 

mind how. It is easier to tell the crew to slow 
down its slides than for the crew to do it; and in 
order that the coxswain may realize some of the 
difficulties which he will later labor with the crew 
to obviate, he should, at his first opportunity, get 
into a steady sculling boat and learn to njanage 
the oars or sculls for himself. 

More important than the rowing for a steersman 
IS his careful study of the way a Hght boat is acted 
upon by oars. He should note that the stern of a 
boat is the part that moves in turning, and that 
the bow is the pivot. With these points to be 
picked up in his spare time by himself, we must 
counsel the man with the tiller hues to use his 
rudder sparingly. If he is to change the direction 
of his crew, so as to bring it round a curve, he 
should begin before he gets to the curve to swing 
his stern away from the projection he is to pass, 
and in general get his boat round into the new 
direction. 

In applying the rudder to accomplish this, he 
should time his rudder strokes with the oar strokes 
of the crew, rather than carry his rudder on contin- 
uously; that is, he should begin to put the rudder 
on as the crew gets hold of the water at the catch, 
and leave it off as the crew finishes the stroke. 
In this way he imposes no handicap on the crew 
between strokes, and turns the boat while the eight 



58 Practical Rowing 

oars are in the water supporting it; for, if the 
rudder is kept on steadily until the turn is made, 
between as well as during the strokes, the problem 
of keeping the balance of the crew is decidedly- 
complicated. The boat is now moving in a curve, 
but the bodies of the crew tend to keep on in the 
original straight line, or, speaking more techni- 
cally, tend to go tangent to the curve. This tend- 
ency is met, during the stroke, by the support 
of the oars in the water, but when the support is 
withdrawn during the recover, between the strokes, 
the tendency of the boat to roll off keel, away from 
the direction in which it is being turned, results 
either in a very sloppy, ofif-keel recover on the side 
away from the turn, or, if the crew has tried to 
counteract this tangential lurch by leaning in with 
the bodies, the chances are that they will overdue 
the leaning and roll down on the side towards 
which they are turning. In either case the result 
is far from beneficial to the speed or temper of the 
crew, however effective it may prove in getting the 
boat turned in the new direction. 

Turning around 

There are unquestionably times when a heroic 
use of the rudder is necessary, where stress of cir- 
cumstances demands that a sharp turn be made, 
either to avoid some obstruction or to get round 



The Coxswain 59 

a sharp bend in the river, made more difficult by 
reason of a strong current. The latter reason for 
using the rudder continuously is hardly to be con- 
sidered seriously, for the coxswain should know his 
currents before he leaves the float, or at least, if he 
steers a crew on tide-water he should know whether 
the tide is ebbing or flooding, or whether it is slack 
water. It requires hardly more than a glance from 
a bridge or from the bank of the stream to take 
in the conditions and direction of tidal flow. An 
understanding or a knowledge of such items will 
save a deal of steering in the course of an after- 
noon's row and may save running aground, or into 
bridge piers, or missing a landing at the float. 

There is an easy and a hard way to turn an eight 
or a four oared boat round, where there is a strong 
current, or in fact where there is any current ; as, 
for instance, in the upper tidal reaches of the 
Charles River above Cambridge. We will take 
two cases. In the first we will suppose that the 
crew is rowing down stream with a following cur- 
rent and it is desirable to turn about. The boat 
should be first steered into mid-stream, or into the 
strongest current. Then by means of the rudder 
and by having port row, the bow of the boat is 
swung in towards the bank where the current is 
slack, while the flow in mid-river swings the stern 
round down stream and helps turn the boat. 



60 Practical Rowing 

In going against the current and turning, the 
boat should first be steered into slack water at 
one side of the river, and then with rudder and oars, 
the head of the boat should be swung out into the 
current to be helped round by it. In both these 
manoeuvres it should be remembered that it is the 
stern of the boat that moves most, in nearly all 
cases, so that when possible the stern of the boat 
should be in a position to benefit by any advantage 
in flow of the current, as in turning from going with 
the current. At least, the stern should have as 
little to work against it as possible, as in the case 
of turning from going against the current. These 
points, simple enough in themselves, if followed 
out, will save time and effort to the crew, and will 
also reHeve the boat itself of no small strain and 
rack. 

Having reminded our crew of some of the more 
common faults in inboard work and posted the 
coxswain on what is expected of him under ordi- 
nary conditions, we may turn around and head back 
to the boathouse. On the return we shall consider 
the outboard or blade work more particularly, and 
when possible show how faults inboard are reflected 
in the outboard work. 

The coxswain in turning the crew round should 
be considerate enough to let each side do a part 
of the turning. If he turns to starboard, the port 



The Coocswain 61 

oars should row the boat until it is about at right 
angles with the original course, and then the star- 
board oars should hold and check the way of the 
craft and back water until the boat is completely 
turned. The steersman must be careful to have his 
rudder straight and his rudder lines drawn taut 
zvhe7i the crew is backings otherwise the rudder is 
liable to break from its fastening. If the rudder 
does get away from him while the crew on either 
side is backing the boat, he should, provided there 
is room, stop the crew and have one or both sides 
take a stroke or two until he can get his rudder 
straight It is easier to correct a fault at once 
than to row back without the rudder and take the 
risk of breaking the boat at bridges or at landing. 



IV. OUTBOARD WORK 

With the Stern Four rowing, it is noticeable, 
first and foremost, that the blades are not going 
into the water together. Number Eight's oar is 
coming out before anybody else's; Seven is late 
in catching; Six is exploring the depths and has 
just missed the bottom of the river with his blade ; 
while Five has a sort of skyscraping action at the 
first part of his stroke and fails to get down to the 
water until half-way through. 

Eight, you are rowing your oar into your lap. 
Let the hands come through at the same level all 
the way from the full reach, and have the finish high 
enough on the body to allow the hands to drop 
down and shoot away without touching the thighs 
on the recover. As it is, Eight is finishing in the 
air instead of holding his grip on the water cleanly 
through to the end of the stroke. He must re- 
member that the finish of the stroke is just as 
much a part of the stroke as the middle or begin- 
ning, and as such it mpst be in the water. Don't 
work quite so hard on your finish for a while, Eight. 
Let the oar float in to your bodyand note at what 
height it comes. Now begin to make it come in at 



Outboard Work 63 

that height easily, at first, increasing the draw with 
the arms as you get more into the swing of it, until 
you can carry a full firm pressure from beginning 
to end. 

Seventy you are slow in getting hold of the water, 
and this comes partly from your tendency to kick 
away your slide, which we were working to correct 
when we started out. Get the shoulders on sharply, 
and turn round at the full reach with more life. 
Stop gathering, in that gradual fashion, and catch 
the water sharply and decisively. Seven puts his 
oar into the water as if he were reaching into a 
basket of eggs and did not want to break any. An 
eight-oar is too quick in the water to allow of the 
first part of the stroke being made soft or easy. 
The change of direction, the getting hold of the 
water, must be quick, and the catch must be faster 
than the motion of the boat. It is not right to 
start behind and figure on catching up with and 
giving a final boost to the boat at the finish. Keep 
ahead ; pull the boat up to you ; don't pull your- 
self up to the boat. 

Sixy don't chop your oar in at the full reach ; 
drop it in. Give the oar its weight on the full 
reach and it will drop in quickly enough, if it has 
been given the proper bevel just before it is ready 
to go into the water. Six is rowing his oar in at 
the full reach as if he had to break through some 



64 Practical Rowing 

thin ice with his blade before he could get at the 
water. As a result of this chopping in, the oar 
goes down much deeper than there is any need for, 
and when, at the end of the stroke, he wants to get 
it out cleanly, the oar is so deep that it is hard to 
get it clear without lifting a good deal of water 
and pulling the boat down in consequence. Use 
your spoon oar as if it were a spooUy number Six, 
and not as if it were an axe. Scoop hold of the 
water out at the full reach. Get down somewhere 
near the water as you come out to the catch. Do 
your rowing in the cream^ don't get down into the 
skim milk. Do as little up and down work as 
possible and save your energy for the horizontal 
effort. Make the stroke and recovery, as far as 
the path of the blade goes, as near parallel as 
possible. Remember that the boat is to be moved 
horizontally, and to do this power must be applied 
horizontally. Every up and down movement, 
therefore, not absolutely essential to getting in 
and out of the water should be avoided. 

Clipping 

Fivey don't chp. Get your blade in where you 
reach. Raise the hands as you get forward and 
feel for the water. Don't turn round, — don't 
change your direction in the air. Make your full 
reach mean something. You only stop the boat 



Outboard Work 65 

by missing the first part of the stroke, for on 
the catch or turn round you only push against the 
stretcher — that is, against the boat — until the 
oar strikes the water. This is a push in the wrong 
direction and stops the boat when you ought to be 
puUing it along. Get your oar into the water as 
part of the recovery, not as part of the stroke. 
As a matter of fact, the getting in is not only the 
end of the recovery, but also the beginning of the 
stroke. It is therefore doubly important that this 
point should have careful attention and be thor- 
oughly understood. Instead of bearing down with 
the hands and carrying the handle of the oar 
toward the bottom of the boat after the oar passes 
over the feet, lighten the pressure of the hands. 
Keep level. Hands up, head up, shoulders up, 
everything moving out on a level, not down. 

Reaching Something 

As reaching carries with it the idea of reaching 
an object, what could be more useless than for 
number Five to reach forward three or four feet 
beyond his objective point? If he is going to clip, 
why reach so far? Let him decide at what point 
he will catch the water and only swing to that 
point. Here, at least, his stroke will be effective, 
— what there is of it. And if it does not seem as 
effective as it should be, he has only to decide to 

5 



66 Pi^actical Rowing 

have the point at which he will get his blade into 
the water a little nearer the bow of the boat. 

The Stern Four now stops rowing or paddling, 
puts on sweaters, and the Bow Four '' takes it up." 

Fotir you are letting up on your finish. Keep a 
good handful of oar way in to the body. Keep 
the water piled up in front of the oar, a ** heaping 
spoonful " and low behind, so that the blade will 
come out clean. Keep the elbows down, and let 
the pull with the arms come straight in by the 
body. It is the firm, hard, clean finish that sends 
the boat running between strokes. Don't jerk it 
in, Four, Feel at the finish that the pull in of 
the arms keeps the feet firmly against the stretcher 
until the hands shoot away on the recovery. The 
arms, as they bend for the draw in to the finish, 
must keep the feet as firmly braced as when, 
earlier in the stroke, they were but the straps or 
connecting rods which attached the oar to the 
body. 

ThreCy take your oar out of the water before you 
feather it. You are feathering under zvater and 
dragging the water up with your oar. The blade 
should be lifted perpendicularly out of the water in 
the same position that it occupied when being 
rowed through, and, when clear of the water, 
feathered and carried along horizontally out for 
the next stroke. Feathering under water (see 




The Finish : a Strong Position. Page 66. 

{See also plate facing page 54.) 



Outboard JVoi^k 67 

plate) is probably more productive of what is called 
crabbing, or catching the water with the forward 
edge of the oar on the recovery, than any other 
single fault. By lifting the blade out perpendicu- 
larly at the finish before feathering it, we are simply 
recognizing a fact from geometry, — that a line 
from a point to a plane perpendicular to the plane 
is the shortest distance between the two, — and, 
conversely, in applying it to the present discussion, 
the shortest and quickest way to get clear of the 
plane of the water is to go straight up from it. 
The reason for taking the shortest cut to get away 
from the water is pretty obvious, for at the finish 
the boat is traveUing at top speed, and one cannot 
be too expeditious in getting the oar blade where 
it will not retard the progress of the boat. 

Two, you are ''cutting under" with your blade. 
See that your oar blade is straight up and down 
before you begin to pull. You are leaving a little 
of the feather on your oar, and your oar goes in 
obliquely instead of perpendicularly. To get the 
greatest effective push out of the oar, without 
either hft or drag, the blade of the oar must be 
vertical and the push against the water horizontal. 
If, as in Two*s case, the oar is rowed with the slant, 
the upper edge of the blade being nearer the bow 
than the lower, any application of power horizon- 
tally will cause the blade to cut down into the 



68 Practical Rowing 

water, because the balance of the blade has been 
destroyed. In his endeavor to prevent the oar 
from cutting under, he must apply his power at 
right angles with the blade. In other words, he 
must pull down on his oar, and this pulling down 
acts to pull the boat down, because it is a hft of 
the water. 

BoWy clear the water on the recovery. Take 
your blade out clean at the finish and carry it well 
off the water until you are ready for another 
stroke. Bow has perhaps the hardest position in 
the boat to fill, but that does not excuse his 
shuffling his oar along over the water on the re- 
cover. Let him think of the oars of the boat as 
legs, and the blades of the oars as feet, and let the 
crew lift these feet and walk the boat along, taking 
care not to drag them between strokes or steps. 
We want no carpet-slipper shuffle on the recovery, 
— either in the water or out of it with the oars; 
no half-way work. 

Making a Landing 

Coxswain, you have a strong wind behind you 
and a little current under your boat. You had 
best run by the float, turn round, and make your 
landing against the wind and current rather than 
with it. In this way a more gradual landing can 
be made and the risk of running into the float at 



Outboard Work 69 

too great a speed avoided. With a frail boat, too 
great care cannot be exercised in landing. A 
broken bow or a bent outrigger must not be 
chanced when a little more time and regard for 
conditions would have prevented the accident. 



V. ALL EIGHT 

After a sufficient time for practice in a steady 
boat, or in a light boat made steady by having 
only one four row at a time, the crew arrives at 
the stage where it must try ** a stretch all eight/' 
The time has arrived when the individuals in the 
crew must begin to blur, and a larger individual, 
the crew unit, must be evolved. For the first time 
we may start the crew off with the Bow Four rowing, 
and then have numbers Five and Six join in, and 
presently, when the Bow men get used to increased 
quickness of the boat, let Stroke and Seven fall in 
with the rest. 

The first thing outside the unsteadiness and 
tendency to roll to be noticed is the quickness of 
the boat in response to power applied, and the 
failure of the crew to apply its power quickly 
enough at the beginning. That is, the boat must 
be caught quickly and dropped quickly at full 
reach and finish respectively, otherwise she will be 
stopped by the oar blades backing water at the 
beginning and end of the stroke. Quickness must 
not be mistaken for power or strength. Quickness 
or agility are not at first associated with great 



All Eight 71 

strength; in fact, great strength more often than 
not impairs agility. With a lively boat running 
under the crew, the changes of direction at the 
full reach and finish must be quick and snappy as 
compared with the more deliberate stroke and 
recovery just preceding the change. 

Get a little more life in that catch, everybody. 
Don't row any harder, but get what power you put 
on quickly, — more Hfe in it ; and remember that a 
baby has life as well as a Sandow. Don't try to 
row harder until you are all sure that you can 
make every ounce tell. It is well to build up the 
substance of rowing on the skeleton of form. 
Some, however, prefer to call form the mould and 
then proceed to coach substance, as we may call 
mere physical strength, into it. There is one 
difficulty, however, that will be found in this latter 
method, and that comes from the greater strength 
of one part of the body as compared with another 
part. Suppose that the legs are very much 
stronger than the back, and that instead of mak- 
ing the whole muscular system ease up so that the 
back can do its work and get strengthened gradu- 
ally, that is, insisting on form from the start, and 
building substance up on it, — instead of building 
up, we try to force form upon a would-be oarsman. 
His strength will push his slide away ahead of his 
back every time, and he will presently find it diffi- 



72 Practical Rowing 

cult to realize that he is persisting in a fault, and 
for no other reason than that he or his mentor do 
not recognize that a chain is weaker than its 
strongest link. I say weaker than its strongest 
link, because the natural method of progression is 
a positive one and from weakness to strength. In 
this chain one of the links may be called the back, 
another the legs, and if we are not desirous of 
getting the cart before the horse, we shall start 
with some act that the back is perfectly able to 
accomplish ; something that is more nearly a going 
through the motion, — formal rather than substan- 
tial. Thus, with gradual increase of work the 
weaker link becomes accustomed to progressive 
effort. Underneath all this there is a knowledge 
of what the right thing is, a knowledge that has 
grown logically, a knowledge which makes the 
man do the right thing naturally. 

Very often one sees the man who has had form, 
as it were, pushed down over him, maintain a fairly 
respectable showing, but directly the restraint is 
removed he falls back into all the old faults. In 
the human activities, as in the human body, we 
find that plan which builds a substance or body 
upon an interior skeleton or form is a most satis- 
factory arrangement. Those exponents of the 
external skeleton, the snail and the tortoise, while 
probably adepts in shells, are but slow coaches 



All Eight 73 

and poor models at best, for even a scheme of 
rowing. 

While on the subject of life or, Hveliness in the 
stroke, it is worth while to emphasize this point as 
an important part of practice rowing at all times. 
We suggested a few hnes back that a baby has life 
as well as a Sandow. The one simply suggests 
life or liveHness, the other stands for a fully devel- 
oped physical Hfe. We have had what corresponded 
to this in what was called "paddling,'' and what is 
still so called in English rowing, as distinguished 
from rowing with full power. In paddling there 
was practice, form, life, a sort of playing at rowing, 
rowing for the fun of it, yet with an object, the 
acquiring of skill and the getting together as a 
crew. In rowing, you left out most of the fun and 
got down to work, but along the same lines as 
those followed in paddling. If, to use another 
simile, we thought of an Adonis paddling, we 
must think of him as 'developing into a Hercules 
when the word came to row. The distinction 
between these two degrees of rowing is one worth 
bearing in mind. After a crew gets pretty well 
together, they should practise paddling and row- 
ing alternately, a longer stretch of paddling being 
followed by shorter, snappy stretches of rowing, 
care being exercised to have the decided differ- 
ence one of power only. For, after all, paddling is 



74 Practical Rowing 

but the preliminary canter, and the crew should be 
given foretastes of what is expected of them in 
their race, as soon as they get shaken together 
enough to keep their boat on keel. 

You are rushing the slides, all eight Spend 
less time sitting on the shding seat and more time 
standing on the stretchers. You are slow in start- 
ing the recover, first with the hands, then with the 
body, and last with the slide. As a result there is 
little else for the crew to do but to make up for 
lost time, with a dash for the full reach. 

Make your dash early, when the speed of the 
boat is at its highest, and get the feeling firm in 
mind, that in starting the change of direction, — 
in starting the recover, — you will use your toe- 
straps not to help you get back to the full reach, 
but to start pulling the boat up to a point where 
you can get a full reach. It is not enough to pull 
the boat along during the stroke; there is three 
times as much momentum in the crew as there is 
in the boat, and this should be used to help the 
boat along at the beginning of the recover. A 
shell eight is not a passenger boat at any stage of 
a race, either during the stroke or while the crew 
is recovering, and it is a mistake for any crew to 
turn passengers on the recovery, as if to watch the 
effect of a stroke while coasting out on the slide 
for another try. There will be weight enough on 




Taking off the Feather Preparatory to Beveling at 
THE Full Reach. Page 75. 

{See also plate facing page 78.) 



All Eight 75 

the slide to bring it along out to the full reach, 
try as you will to keep yourselves on and in the 
stretchers. The instances of a free running shde 
being left behind at the start of the recover are not 
numerous and need cause the crew no concern. 

The Stretcher 

In the rowing, as in almost everything worth 
doing, we want a fundamental idea or principle to 
go by, something to tie to, as the expression is ; 
and we have that as soon as we get into the boat, 
— the stretcher, — and we tie to it, and then, as like 
as not, go to rowing and forget all about it. Here 
again is where the beginner in rowing needs more 
of the ** baby'' idea in his work. He must remem- 
ber where his feet are and why they are fastened 
in. These items seem so rudimentary as hardly 
to be called for here, and yet if we tell the crew to 
take off the feather of the oar as the hands pass 
over the feet, few in the boat will give evidence 
of knowing where their feet are in relation to 
their hands. The expression ** taking off the 
feather," above, refers to the turning the oar 
blade from being parallel with the water to a 
position perpendicular to the water, ready for 
the next stroke. The idea in feathering the oar 
is to avoid the resistance that the perpendicular 
oar blade offers to the air. It is in line with 



76 Practical Rowing 

the whole scheme of the recovery to steal a 
march on the boat, to get ready for another stroke 
without hindering her progress. Reference has 
been made to the construction of the oar at the 
point where it rests in the lock. It will have been 
noted that one side of the oar, where it is in con- 
tact with the rigger or lock, is flat. That flat side 
is parallel to the plane of the blade. It is the flat 
side that may be called the working base of the 
oar. That is, the flat side is the side on which 
the oar is made, or intended to rest for the larger 
part of the time that it is in motion. There is, of 
course, no question as to the use of the flat side 
of the oar during the stroke, unless we consider 
the occasional oarsman, who finds the round corner 
convenient to enable him to reach downward 
toward the bottom of the stream. The flat side, 
then, during the stroke is pressed firmly against 
the forward side of the rowlock. The forward side 
of the lock is so adjusted that it allows a straight 
horizontal pull to keep the oar blade just covered. 
It is evident that during the stroke there is no 
question that the flat side of the oar is the working 
base and that this flat base is perpendicular. Dur- 
ing the stroke the weight of the oar and the strength 
of the oarsman in pulling it through have been 
acting horizontally. In fact, we may say that 
the dead weight of the oar in the lock has been 



All Eight 77 

practically nil. But when the stroke is finished and 
the oar rests in the lock, and is there carried until 
the beginning of the next stroke, it should again 
rest on its working base. This base should now 
be horizontal, and the oar blade feathered, so that 
it will require less effort on the part of the oarsman 
to push it forward to where it is to catch the w^ater. 
It will also require less lifting to keep it from touch- 
ing the water during the recovery. 

Wind Resistance 

If we presume that a crew is rowing on a day on 
which there is no wind, that crew will be moving 
at a speed of nearly twelve miles per hour, which 
means that they must resist a wind blowing twelve 
miles per hour. The difference in the amount of 
resistance offered by the oars of an eight when 
feathered and when carried through the recovery 
perpendicularly amounts to about five square feet, 
this being, roughly, the area of the oar blades. 
With a head v/ind, or even in a calm, it must be 
evident that for a crew to neglect to feather its oar 
blades means that the members must work harder 
on the recovery to push their oars flat against the 
wind, that the resistance offered by the oar blades 
must stop the boat in a measure, and that they are 
all likely to recover with the blades at different 



78 Practical Rovcing 

angles, since there is nothing in the rounded part 
of the oar to hint at uniformity. 

With a following wind the feather loses some of 
its value, but is still to be used because it enables 
the oarsman to carry his blade along near the 
water with less danger of hitting the waves be- 
tween strokes and brings him near the water at the 
full reach. It is just at this point that one begins to 
realize why the carrying of the blade in the position 
described is called feathering. With a head wind, 
the air tends to hft the blade as it is being turned 
to the perpendicular ready for the catch, the blade 
traveling in the direction of least resistance. To 
meet this soaring tendency, or *' skying," as it is 
sometimes termed, the blade should be turned 
from the horizontal to a little beyond the vertical 
position, just before the end of the recovery, or as 
the hands pass over the feet. If any skying is done 
in turning the blade, it can be corrected before the 
full reach, and the turning of the oar a little beyond 
the perpendicular will help to bring the blade 
down into the water, at the very farthest point 
forward. In this the wind plays a small but not 
to be despised part, helping to drive the blade 
down, where but a moment before it was lifting 
the oar up away from the water. 



All Eight V9 

Beveling 

This turning of the blade beyond the perpendicu- 
lar is called '' beveling/' or facing the oar. It must 
be remembered that the bevel, or face, is a part of 
the recovery, and while it may actually be held 
until the oar reaches the water, the oar must then 
come back to the perpendicular so as to rest 
firmly against the forward pin of the rowlock. 

A very practical illustration of the value and the 
necessity of bevel, and bevel only, may be had if 
one attempts to row a dory fitted with open thole- 
pins against a gale of wind. To carry the oar 
blades perpendicularly against the wind is very 
difficult, while to feather the oars results in their 
being blown or hfted clean out of the tholepins. 
The other alternative, to bevel them until it is 
almost a feathering upside down, enables one to 
get along in comparative comfort, confining the 
attention to keeping the oars from being blou'n 
down into the water before one is ready for the 
stroke. In the case of racing boats, there is happily 
no open tholepin for the oar to blow out from, 
but there is the large blade to catch the wind, or 
strike the water during the recovery. One may 
not always pick his weather for rowing. The crew 
will seldom have absolute calm for their practice 
rowing, or their race, and even less often will they 



80 Practical Rowing 

have fair wind to waft them along during an entire 
afternoon's practice. The crew which adapts its 
style to the conditions to which it is subject will 
get more fun out of its rowing, and more speed, 
than the crew which is too lazy or too mechanical 
to shade its work to meet the varying circumstances 
of wind and weather. 

Pull it way through, everybody. Get the oars in 
^* out of the wet," and away again before the body 
breaks from its anchorage at the finish of the stroke. 
Remember that the best leverage is nearest the end 
of the oar, and don't imagine the thumb and first 
finger of the outside hand enough to hold the 
drive of legs and back, and do7i't shift the responsi- 
bility of holding the oar all on to the inside hand 
merely because it has a more comfortable or per- 
manent grip. The inside hand is valuable and 
helpful, particularly on the recover, where it feathers 
and bevels the oar, but on the stroke the outside 
hand, consisting of the thumb and at least three 
fingers, should hook strongly round the end of the 
oar handle, coupHng it up with the motive power 
in legs, back, and arms. 

If it is questioned whether the thumb and one 
finger are inadequate, let the questioner try pulling 
himself up to his chin on a horizontal bar, using 
what we may call a hand and two fifths. While he 
is doing this, let him not fail to observe the position 




The Finish : a Weak Position. Page 80. 



All Eight 81 

of his elbows, and note that they are by the sides, 
not out at right angles to the body. The lifting of 
the body in this case involves considerably more 
of a pull than is required in puUing an oar through 
in rowing, and it incidentally shows how we go about 
it when we have a really severe task to accomplish. 
It shows better than any amount of discussion can, 
w^hat position in relation to that other horizontal 
bar, the oar, the arms and hands should occupy 
during the stroke, if we wish to use our strength 
most directly and economically. And although 
we don't have to lift such a heavy weight in rowing, 
nor could and get very far, still the more power 
we get in the stroke the faster the crew will go, 
and we may keep the experience of pulling our- 
selves up to our chin as a sort of ideal performance 
or model to go by in puUing an oar. 

Overworking the Recover 

Remember always what you are doing in the 
boat, — rowing, — and don't let it degenerate into 
recovering. A crew that makes hard work of its 
recovery will have very little strength left to row 
with. If anything is to be sacrificed, let it be the 
recover rather than the stroke. If the recover gets 
to be hardworked, it ceases to be of value even as 
a recovery. It fatigues instead of rests the crew, 
and more quickly, because it is a more unnatural 

6 



82 Practical Rowing 

effort than the work of rowing a stroke. When 
man and his ancestors stood upright, they were 
able to do so through the use of the muscles of the 
back. Gravity took care of the forward or down- 
ward movement of the body, and as a result the 
muscles in the anterior part of the body are less 
adapted to pulling the body forward than the 
muscles of the posterior regions are to lift the 
body against the force of gravitation and to hold it 
upright. Coming back again to rowing, it must 
be conceded that to be natural, as well as progres- 
sive, the stress should be laid on the stroke rather 
than upon the recovery. And while we have 
spoken of the use of toe-straps in drawing the 
boat up under one in recovery, this must not be 
interpreted as a thing to be done at the expense of 
undue energy. The idea of stealing a march on 
the boat in recovering — in getting out to the full 
reach for another stroke before the boat has had 
a chance to stop — the idea of stealing should 
suggest an action carried out on as inconspicuous 
lines as possible. In fact, everything must be 
subordinated to the idea of rowing. 

Slow and Slowed Slides 

It may not come amiss to consider here the dif- 
ference between a slow slide and a slowed slide. 
The slowed slide has been considered at some 



All Eight 83 

length earlier in this work. Its underlying idea is 
that of helping the boat between strokes by pulling 
her along with the aid of the toe-straps. Further, 
it is an action which blends with the quick shoot 
of the hand's after the finish. The slow slide 
attempts no Hfting along through the toe-straps. 
It follows a hard finish and leaves as much of the 
momentum of the crew in the boat as is possible, 
and for as long a time as possible. It is plain 
that to have the entire momentum of the crew 
remain in the boat, and be part of the boat be- 
tween strokes, the weight of the crew must travel 
with and as fast as the boat. It is equally plain 
that, if the crew is sliding toward the stern, some 
of the momentum or speed of the boat is lost 
The aim, then, of the slow slide is to retain as much 
of the momentum of the crew for as long a time 
as is consistent with speed and balance. It is fair 
to presume that the longer the time spent on the 
recovery, provided the stroke is not forgotten, the 
easier it will be for the crew. One more point 
in this connection — the use of the arms and legs 
for the final send will be found by some to be 
easier of accomplishment than the quick use of 
the toe-straps, and the sudden and somewhat 
unusual eff'ort required of the abdominal muscles 
in drawing the boat along momentarily with the 
toe-straps. Both styles of recover have their 



84 Practical Rowing 

advantages. The slow recover is simple, and as 
much as possible a one-speed movement, and is 
only possible when rowing a low stroke. The 
slowed slide is quite as useful and important in 
rowing a low stroke as it is essential on a high 
stroke. It would seem more readily to admit of 
shading than the slow slide. The slowed slide 
also fits in with the idea of reaching. 

Considering the recover from a mechanical point 
of view, however, the simpler and the easier we 
can make it the better. The question, then, is, 
which slide movement is the simpler, the one- 
movement slow slide, or the graduated movement 
called for by the slowed sHde. In the course of a 
two-mile race an eight-oared crew will go through 
the motion of recovering three hundred times or 
more. But we must not lose sight of this fact: 
the crew is rowing a race, not recovering. With 
this in view, it is plain that the simpler and more 
mechanical the recover can be made, not forgetting 
the definition of recover, the greater will be the 
amount of energy left to be devoted to rowing. 

The Logic of the Slowed Slide 

If the slowed slide does not seem as simple 
because of its shading the speed of the recover, it 
is at least logical, and for this reason: The first 
move in the recovery is what is pretty generally 



All Eight 85 

called the ^' shoot of the hands.*' Next is something 
which corresponds to the shoot, performed by 
shoulders and slide. If there is to be smoothness 
of recover, and a blending of the motions of arms 
and body, the body and slide must start quickly, 
following in a slightly slower fashion the necessar- 
ily quick action of the arms in getting the blade 
out of the water. The slide, under these require- 
ments, must start quickly, and it is the quick start, 
therefore, that makes logical the slowed slide. In 
other words, it is easier to slow down from a quick 
start than it is to slow down from a slow start 
The idea of a slowed slide lends itself more readily 
to our definition of reach. At the beginning of a 
reach no great care is necessary, and one may start 
reaching with a fair amount of speed. But as the 
object is neared (in rowing this object is the water) 
care must be taken, and the speed slackened in 
order not to overreach and chop the oar in at the 
full reach. 

I cannot leave the subject without a few last 
w^ords on the necessity of keeping always in mind 
the idea of rowing. It must be remembered that 
practice makes perfect, but practice in form is not 
enough. Practice, in the substance of rowing, is 
of the greatest importance. If this practice looks 
forward to a race in light racing boats, the sooner 
the crew gets into a Hght boat the better. It is 



86 Pi^actical Rowing 

always possible to steady the lightest shell by 
letting four men hold her on keel by resting on 
their oars. We do not train the crews of our 
America's Cup defenders on North River or Rock- 
port stone-sloops. No more should a crew that 
can handle a shell row in a barge. The way to 
learn to row a shell, and to be at home in it, is for 
the crew to get in and row the shell as often as 
may be. Let substance follow close on the heels 
of form, and let us bear in mind that form without 
substance, in rowing, is like faith without works. 

Mr. R. C. Lehmann well expresses the spirit 
that should dominate the rowing man, in his poem 
*' Style and the Oar " : 

" To sit upon a seat, 
With the straps about your feet, 
To grasp the oar and use it, to recover and to slide, 
And to keep the body swinging, 
And to get the finish ringing, 

And to send the light ship leaping as she whizzes on the 
tide; 

** To make the rhythm right 
And your feather clean and bright, 
And to slash as though you loved it, though your muscles 

seem to crack, 
And though your brain is spinning, 
To be sharp with your beginning, 
And to heave your solid body indefatigably back. 



All Eight 87 

" To seek your bed at ten, 
And to tumble out again 
When the clocks are striking seven and the winds of March 

are chill ; 
To be resolute and steady, 
Cheerful, regular, and ready 
For a run upon the Common, or a tramp up Putney Hill. 

'* To sink yourself and be 
Just a unit, and to see 

How the individual withers, and the crew is more and more, 
And to guard without omission 
Every glorious tradition 

That the ancient heroes founded when they first took up 
an oar ; 

** In short, to play the game 
Not so much for name and fame 

As to win a common honor for your colors, light or dark — 
Oh ! it 's this has made your crew-man 
Such a chivalrous and true man 
Since the day that Father Noah went a-floating in the Ark." 



VI. SCULLING 

Most of us, at one time or other, have rowed a 
flat-bottomed skiff, or dory, on a pond or on tide- 
water. Little thought was required to keep the 
boat upright, and the oars were only necessary to 
propel the craft. In a sculling boat all is changed. 
The craft is designed with one idea, — speed. A 
full-blown *^ single scull,'' as the boat is called, with 
its thirty feet of length and its one foot width, is 
a very ticklish proposition. Fortunately for both 
the beginner and the boat, the former is not usually 
obliged to start in the narrowest boat. His begin- 
nings should be undertaken in a craft whose width 
is at least three feet. In such a boat he will rap- 
idly gain confidence and an idea of balance, both 
of which are essential for a sculler. 

Control of Oars or Sculls 

The first thing to be borne in mind — to be 
grasped mentally and physically — is the oars or 
sculls. It is upon the oars or sculls that the 
rower must depend, not only for getting ahead, 
but for even staying- in the boat at all. It will be 
observed that while the sculling boat itself is nar- 



Sculling 89 

row, its oars are long, and really have a wider 
spread than those of a rowboat. This length of 
oars at once contributes to speed, and forms a sort 
of balancing pole, with which to keep the boat 
upright. We must insist from the start, in our 
three-foot wherry, that the would-be sculler observe 
the same rules as in the narrowest shell. The first 
of these is that he must always have control of his 
oars. We will suppose that he has, with some 
one's help, brought his boat down and launched it 
from the float. Before bringing down the boat 
he must have first brought down the oars, else his 
boat will go drifting away while he is up after the 
oars, or, if the craft is a narrow shell, it will tip 
over the moment he turns his back. Next, we 
must shatter the simple rowboat idea : that either 
oar will do on either side. It won't. The sculls 
are rights and lefts, or rather starboard and port 
sculls, and must be put in their respective row- 
locks, so that when the blade of the scull is per- 
pendicular in the lock, with the hollow side of the 
blade toward the stern of the boat, the double row 
of nails which fasten the leather around the oar 
will be on top. If this arrangement is not followed, 
the oars will '' feather under ; " that is, the front 
edge of the blade will be a shade lower than the 
back edge when the oar blade is floating flat on the 
water, and when the boat is in motion this exag- 



90 Practical Rowing 

gerated feathering of the oar will make it catch the 
water or cause '' crabbing," or '* catching a crab/' 
as in sweep rowing. 

Getting in 

Having adjusted the oars or sculls on their proper 
sides, the next thing is to get into the boat. Face 
the stern of the boat. Grasp both scull handles 
in one hand, having the outside scull flat on the 
water and the inside one resting on the float. Then, 
standing forward of the rowlock, step into the boat, 
placing the foot exactly over the keel and on that 
part of the cross bracing which supports the sHd- 
ing seat nearest the foot braces or stretcher. Now 
transfer the weight of the body to the foot that 
is in the boat and lower the body down slowly 
to the sliding seat. Often the slide will be at the 
extreme forward end of its railway, and it is 
important that before sitting on it the slide be 
brought close to the heel of the foot on which the 
sculler stands in the boat. This can be done wath 
the toe of the other foot, or with the hand not 
engaged in holding the sculls. It is a great strain 
on a light scuUing boat, wherry, or shell, to have a 
man fall back upon a seat that is at the extreme 
forward end of the slide, and it is liable to injure 
the mechanism of the slide, or even to start the 
planking of the boat. An even, smooth manner of 



Sculling 91 

entering and leaving a delicate craft of this sort 
must be practised, just as well as an even, non-jerky 
method of propelling the boat after one is in it. 

The broader boats may not need to be handled 
with quite such care, but the beginner is recom- 
mended to practise this care until it is second 
nature. He will ruin fewer boats and have less 
upsets to his credit if he does. 

Some of the antics that inexperienced men go 
through, if not destructive of the boat itself, are 
often very amusing. To see the puzzled look on 
a tall, sedate man's face after he has seated himself 
in his boat, arranged his stretcher, and then, and 
not till then, discovered that his oar handles are 
under his knees instead of over, and that he must 
get entirely out of the boat again, can hardly fail 
to cause a smile. And even if the man who gets 
into the boat facing the bow means well, he appears 
somewhat ridiculous, particularly if he tries to be 
seated in the same observant posture. At these 
people we may smile, but we have to regret the 
action of the nonchalant or thoughtless man who 
steps into a boat without looking and goes through 
the bottom planking as through paper. It hardly 
seems possible that if that same man has helped 
carry his boat down to the float, he can have failed 
to notice how light the craft was; and if light, 
why, if not because the material used in the con- 



92 Practical Rowing 

struction was light? Eighth-inch planking, or 
thinner, makes but an indifferent promenade deck 
in a sculling boat, especially if the deck at that 
point is, at the same time, the bottom. 

And now, having pushed off from the float, the 
most important thing to do is to have both oar 
blades resting flat on the water and the inboard 
end of the oars close together. It is well to hold 
both handles in one hand, occasionally, in order to 
be sure that the boat is perfectly on keel. In this 
way, too, confidence is more readily acquired. 
Nothing is more disconcerting than to try to correct 
a boat that is off keel by leaning the body away 
from the down side. If a man sits amidships and 
brings his oar handles together in front of him, he 
will have leisure to think of his next move. At 
this point the sculler must remember never to lose 
control of his oars or sculls, and never to have them 
out of the water while he is in his boat, unless he is 
rowing. In the early stages of his practice we may 
say, that unless he has a broad boat with a keel, 
he had best stick close to the water with his oar 
blades at all times, whether scuUing or at rest. 

An example of the uselessness of trying to 
balance a sculling boat by moving or leaning the 
body from side to side occurs to the writer. A 
friend had, against the advice of those who knew 
whereof they spoke, taken a sculling boat from the 



Sculling 93 

racks in the boathouse and was pushing off from 
the float. Hardly had both oars touched the water, 
and luckily before he had attempted a stroke, than 
his boat rolled down until the inboard end of one 
oar rested on the gunwale of the boat, while the 
other oar handle was on a level with the man's 
head. In this position, or rolled over on the 
other side when he succeeded in leaning far enough 
off keel to throw the boat into the alternative posi- 
tion, the would-be sculler drifted away from the 
float and from the shouted gibes and suggestions 
of his comrades. A quarter of a mile farther down 
stream the now pretty well rattled rower en- 
countered another floatful of men with suggestions 
pertinent or personal. These, or the fact that there 
was no good landing below this point, brought the 
incident to a close. The writer's friend swam to 
the float, and his boat, strained and broken by the 
unusual handling, was taken to the repair shop. Not 
once during that drift down stream had the man 
brought the oar handles together or kept them on a 
level. It did not occur to him in the ten minutes or 
so that he was vainly trying to solve the problem of 
balance that to raise or keep almost anything up one 
must lift. The boat depended on the oars for being 
kept up. To correct her being off keel, then, re- 
quired that the down side be lifted by means of the 
oar on that side. This is easier said than done, it will 



94 Practical Bowing 

be contended. The same topheaviness exists in 
every narrow sculling boat and has to be met in just 
this way by one who would scull. With experience, 
however, comes the ability to meet and check this 
tendency of the boat to roll at its very first sign. 

The Stroke 

Taking for granted that the sculler is now able 
to sit quiet in his boat, oar handles together, and 
therefore level, or at the same height above the 
knees, he should try to take a short stroke, — and 
by a short stroke is meant one that only requires 
the bending of the arms and the drawing in of the 
hands to the body. Even with this first short 
journey of the hands, the lifting spoken of above 
will have to be brought into action now on one 
side, and immediately on the other, to prevent the 
first lift from carrying that side of the boat too 
high. If it does not seem desirable to carry this 
analysis of the means used in maintaining the 
balance so far, let it be remembered that, as the 
handles of the oars separate in drawing the stroke 
through, they must still be kept on a level. 

It is advisable in the first attempt in a sculling 
boat to move the oars very slowly backward and 
forward in unison, without turning the blades per- 
pendicular, as in rowing. In this way the rower 
may get accustomed to the simple act of balancing 



Sculling 95 

in every position from full reach to finish, and 
throughout the recovery. By keeping the blades 
flat on the water, during these first movements, 
the maximum support will be had from the oar 
blades, and by moving the oars slowly, particularly 
when puUing them toward the body, the beginner 
will avoid having the blades cut under. 

It is not a bad plan for the sculler's early efforts to 
be directed to scuUing with such motions as can be 
had with arms and back, leaving the legs and slide 
at rest, and giving the body a firm base from which 
to work. 

Look out Ahead 

One of the necessary evils of sculling is that of 
looking over the shoulder every dozen strokes or 
so to be sure that one's course is right, and to make 
sure that there is no obstacle or floating menace 
to the frail boat. Therefore it will not be amiss 
to practise with first one oar, and then the other, 
turning the head to watch the work from full reach 
to finish, and accustoming one's self to rowing with 
the head and chin over one shoulder or the other. 
It will be of great assistance, too, to see what to do 
and how to do it, for, as in sweep rowing, all the 
motions are reversed, and to be able to watch the 
blade for a time will lead to an earHer mastery of 
what is required. 



96 Practical Bowing 

Body Work 

As regards body swing, it must be remembered 
that the pivot is to be kept low. The arc de- 
scribed by the swing of the shoulders forward and 
backward should be swung from the upper side of 
the sliding seat, not from the small of the back. 
So, then, if justification is needed for beginning 
work without using the slide in a sculling boat, it 
lies in the limbering up that the back gets from 
having to do all the work. 

The beginning of the stroke in sculling requires 
that the body be inchned well over the knees, 
that the arms be straight, and that the blade be 
perpendicular in and just covered by the water. 
More constant care must be given to having the 
blade absolutely perpendicular, before taking a 
stroke in a sculling boat, than was necessary in an 
eight. The sculler has both sides of the boat to 
look out for, while the sweep oarsman had but one, 
and he was only responsible for a quarter of that 
side. 

Gather-catch 

The fact that the sculler has to attend to both 
sides of his boat leads to a style of sculling that 
differs slightly from the hard, quick catch prac- 
tised by sweep oarsmen. The sculler must first 



Sculling 97 

make sure and then go ahead ; that is, he must 
scull with a stroke that begins easy, and increases 
as he feels that everything is all right. If check- 
ing the progress of the boat is to be avoided, there 
must be smoothness ; and here, at least, we have a 
catch that more resembles a gather ; not that the 
oars should hover over the water at the full reach, 
but that after they are buried an increasing appli- 
cation of power sends the boat ahead, rather than 
the quick, hard catch that was necessary in the 
eight, if the crew was to keep ahead of the boat's 
pace on the catch. A single shell has not such 
speed as an eight, and in consequence requires or 
allows of a slower catch. Further, the balanced 
rig of a sculling boat allows a longer reach and a 
longer stroke all through than sweep rowing. 
This excess of reach and finish does not neces- 
sarily mean a longer effective stroke, for it is 
possible to reach so far as merely to press the 
water out at right angles with the course of the 
boat at the full reach and to press the water in 
toward the boat at the finish of the stroke. But 
the long forward reach does allow the sculler to 
get his oars well covered, his boat well balanced, 
so that as he comes to the middle and latter effec- 
tive part of the work he is sure to have his boat in 
such perfect balance that he can put every ounce 
of power into the middle and last of the stroke. 

7 



98 Practical Bowing 

Again, at the end of the stroke the oar handles may 
pass the body instead of stopping at it, as with 
sweeps. Here, again, length may not mean power, 
but it may mean adjustment of balance, and the 
fact that the oar handles clear the body allows the 
latter to remain more erect, or even to start forward 
before the hands and arms have entirely completed 
the stroke. 

In outrigged sculling boats it is usual to have 
one outrigger a little higher than the other in 
order to allow one hand to be over the other, half- 
way through the stroke, without throwing the boat 
off keel. In other words, if the hands were level 
at the full reach, or equidistant from the water, 
and the boat on keel at the same time, the middle 
of the stroke would find the boat off keel, because 
the overlapping of the oar handles requires that 
one hand be under the other. An alternative for 
this crossing of the hands in mid-stroke consists in 
pulling one oar through just ahead of the other, 
and on the same level. This obviates the necessity 
of rigging a boat for right or left hand over. The 
difference in height of riggers, however, is so 
slight that it is perhaps best to be rigged for one 
hand over. Such rigging will not interfere with 
pulling the stroke through with one hand behind 
the other and, on the recover, right or left over 
may be a very convenient style of rigging. 



Sculling 99 

Hindsight 

A few words of caution on the subject of keeping 
a lookout ahead every few strokes, particularly on 
tidal waters or where there is much rowing. A 
shell boat is a thin-skinned affair, and will stand 
little or no battering. A floating barrel does little 
to advertise itself, particularly when one is rowing 
toward the setting sun. The glittering pathway 
up which one is sculling is trying to the eyes, 
but it must be scanned, and often. The writer's 
own experience as he was returning from an after- 
noon's row will serve as an illustration of the futility 
of depending on even one careful look before row- 
ing, — say quarter of a mile. He was returning to 
the float, and having about an eighth of a mile 
straight going against a low dazzling sun, decided 
to make it in one hard stretch. The course was 
clear. There was nothing between him and his des- 
tination, as far as could be seen. He started on a 
quick sprint to cover the distance. Half-way home 
there was a crash ; the writer turned a back somer- 
sault out of his boat, as she stopped suddenly, and 
when he came to the surface he found the obstruc- 
tion was a double scull, in which sat two very scared 
men. His own boat had struck theirs just aft of 
amidships and had gone completely through her, 
just grazing the foot of the stroke oar. 



100 Practical Rowing 

Another incident of collision where the bow of one 
boat penetrated another shell and passed through 
between the tendon and the ankle-bone of the 
other oarsman, necessitating the latter's having to be 
sawed out of his boat when rescued, is a gruesome 
classic in Charles River lore. Instances might be 
multiplied, and it is even reported in a neighboring 
city, where rowing is much indulged in, that the 
channel buoys have been known to sink from the 
weight of metal punched into them from the bows 
of many indifferently steered racing shells con- 
structed with copper tips on their stems. 

It is another case where '' eternal vigilance is 
the price of liberty/' Hindsight is better than a 
long swim taa boat builder's, particularly if one's 
specialty be rowing and not swimming. If a man 
will not bring himself to keep a watch out for his 
course ahead, let him take up canoeing. 

Of boats, oars, and rigging, little has been said. 
The beginner is not so very much concerned with 
the refinements of the mechanical details. When 
he does get interested in these things he will go 
into the detail of the thing very much deeper than 
it is the purpose of the writer to go here. 



VII. THE COACH 

We may not close without a few words to the 
coach. He must have patience. He must be im- 
partial. The captain may need as much criticism 
as any one else, and he should get it. The cox- 
swain will learn more if he is told what to do and is 
sent oi^t in a single scull to learn the effect of the 
oars on a boat, instead of sitting around all the 
afternoon with a box of cigarettes waiting for his 
crew. The coach should be able to practise as 
well as preach. His criticism should be positive 
and constructive, rather than negative and denun- 
ciatory. He should suggest a cure or the proper 
way, rather than dwell on the fault. '* Just cover 
the blade " is better than " Don't dip so deep," for 
it tells how to do it definitely. " Don't dip so 
deep" leaves a perfectly definite opening for the 
framing of such a question as '' Well, how deep 
shall I go?" by the man out beyond the big end of 
the coach's megaphone. The coach must remem- 
ber that the oarsman is working along physical 
lines, and developing, for the time, in body rather 
than in mind. Therefore, the coach should try to 
put his suggestions in ways that are likely to catch 



102 Practical Romng 

the attention and fix themselves in the oarsman's 
mind. A few years ago the writer, boated, was 
some distance out beyond the big end of a mega- 
phone. The coach could not seem to get the two 
crews to avoid a bad hang at the full reach. At last 
he thundered out, ** You fellows are so slow in get- 
ting in at the full reach that a hen could go to roost 
on your oar handles out there.'' It would have been 
a lively hen that could have gained foothold on 
any of the sixteen oars after that challenge from 
the launch. 

And so it must be remembered that while he is 
working to make human beings approximate me- 
chanical perfection, the mechanical is reflected in 
a decreased mental activity, and the coach must be 
doubly keen to detect signs of overwork and to 
act on his own initiative when such signs appear, 
without worrying the subject or without submitting 
him to questioning as to how he feels. His rowing, 
his general demeanor, his appetite, should be as an 
open book to the coach. The man, more often than 
not, will conceal his feelings lest an expression of 
them prejudice the coach against him. Intuition, 
therefore, is one of the most important requisites 
of a good coach. 

The best oarsmen do not of necessity make 
the most skilful coaches at the start, for they 
must learn to see. It was theirs to do what they 



The Coach 103 

were told or coached to do. Their work was 
physical in large part, and they went ahead on the 
path that was outlined for them. When they come 
to coach others and endeavor to describe what is 
wanted, the difficulties begin, and can only be over- 
come with persistent study. Study means time, and 
in our American lexicon ** Time is money." Here, 
then, is the reason why the professional coach is 
a logical outgrowth of American institutions and 
temperament; and until Americans can afford to 
approximate more nearly to something of the play 
spirit of our cousins over sea we shall continue to 
look to specialists for the keenest development in 
any line of endeavor, — work or play. 



THE EFFECTS OF TRAINING 



A STUDY OF THE HARVARD 
UNIVERSITY CREWS^ 

INTRODUCTION 

This investigation was undertaken at the sug- 
gestion of the Harvard Athletic Committee, by 
whom it was felt that a knowledge of the physio- 
logical changes occurring during severe training 
would be of value, and that incidentally data might 
be obtained throwing light on the obscure subject 
of over-training. It is intended to make a similar 
study of the effects of training for several other 
forms of athletic contests besides rowing, espe- 
cially football and running. Since no similar re- 
search had, as far as known, been attempted, this 
first series of observations on the effect of rowing 
was regarded as tentative. It was doubtful how 
far the subject would lend itself to study, and hence 
it was thought best not to attempt too much until 

1 Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, cxli, 9, 10, cxliv, 23. 



108 Practical Rowing 

the more promising lines on which to work had 
been determined. Much of the work has been 
somewhat barren of result, while in other direc- 
tions unexpected facts have been learned and the 
necessity for further study revealed. For example, 
it early became apparent that one of the most 
important parts of the investigation would concern 
the nutrition and tissue metabolism, but for want 
of suitable apparatus and in the absence of a 
chemist to analyze the food and excreta, this part 
of the work was done only in the most superficial 
way. It is hoped that a subsequent investigation 
will include a much more complete study of these 
important points. The greater part of the work 
which was thought to be feasible this year was a 
study of the changes taking place in the heart and 
kidneys, and a series of observations on the weight 
and temperature and their relation to the general 
condition of the men. The observations covered 
the months of May and June, and hence included 
only the more strenuous part of the training period, 
for which all the men had been prepared by long 
preliminary work, as detailed below. 

There were certain difficulties which limited the 
scope of the inquiry and which must be borne in 
mind in estimating the results obtained. The 
chief one was the impossibility of maintaining con- 
stant supervision over the men, and the conse- 



The Effects of Training 109 

quent loss of much valuable information. This 
was not true, however, during the two weeks at 
New London, where the opportunities for obser- 
vation were excellent. A second difficulty was 
that circumstances sometimes compelled the use 
of cruder methods of examination than would be 
necessary for the most accurate work. For in- 
stance, the most accurate method of determining 
the size of the heart and the method least liable to 
error from the ^^ personal equation " is by means 
of the fluoroscope, but owing to the impossibility 
of setting up an elaborate X-ray machine at New 
London, one had to fall back on the less certain 
method of combined auscultation and percussion 
aided by the phonendoscope. A third hmitation 
to the inquiry was the obvious one that all the 
observations had to be arranged so as not to inter- 
fere in any way with the main objects of the train- 
ing, which were to learn to row and to get into 
the best possible condition. Consequently, noth- 
ing in the way of experiment could be attempted, 
nor any examination which would fatigue the men 
or distract their attention from their rowing. 

These limitations were unavoidable, but were 
counterbalanced in a way by the active co-opera- 
tion of the coach and of the individual members 
of the crew. Their courtesy and interest were 
unfailing, and alone made it possible to carry on 



110 Practical Rowing 

the observations, involving as they did a consider- 
able expenditure of time and a certain amount of 
irksomeness. 

Preliminary training, — The large number of 
candidates who began training in the winter were 
gradually weeded out by a process of natural se- 
lection, based on numerous trial races, until but 
sixteen remained. These men were organized into 
two crews in April, and practised daily until early 
in June. Shortly before going to New London 
a new man was taken from one of the Weld crews 
and five of the squad were dropped. The re- 
maining twelve comprised the two crews — the 
eight-oar and the four-oar — which took part in 
the races, and most of the statistics of this paper 
refer to them. The observations on the five who 
stopped training early in June were eliminated, so 
that more correct comparison could be made. 

Of these twelve men all had done considerable 
previous rowing in their class crews or in the Weld 
crews. Four had rowed on former Varsity crews, 
and one had been a substitute. Several had begun 
rowing in preparatory schools. Six out of the 
twelve had played football, and two had practised 
running. The period of active training for these 
sports had been from two to six years, so that all 
the men may fairly be called trained athletes, and 
the changes effected by training would not be 



The Effects of Training 



111 



expected to be as marked as in the case of inex- 
perienced men. 

The previous health of all the men had been good 
with one exception, who gave a history of typhoid 
six years ago and rheumatism a year later. 

G enteral statistics, — The following table gives in 
brief the ages, weights, heights, chest and abdomi- 

TABLE I 











Chest measure- 


(i> 


^ 






, 






ments. 


g^ 


•0 




. 


-S," 








-N 


I 






No. 


^ 


in 




In- 

spira- 


Ex- 
pira- 


Ex- 
pan- 


12 


"3 






s 




tion. 


tion. 


sion. 


0° 


> 








Ft. In 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


Cu. In. 


I 


20 


"'S 


5 9 


41 


35 


6 


31 


23s 


2 


20 


i5«K 


5 "K 


3^ 


34 


4 


29 


2QO 


3 


20 


175^^ 


5 9% 


41 


37 


4 


33 


330 


4 


20 


i8o 


6 iK 


39K 


35 


45< 


31^/^ 


330 


I 


21 


177^^2 


6 2 


4034 


ZIV^ 


35^ 


323^ 


380 


19 


178 


6 2K 


39K 


ZVA 


5K 


31 


330 


7 


24 


167 Ji 


6 iK 


37K 


33^ 


4 


30 


330 


^ 


21 


I&3 


6 I 


39K 


34K 


5^ 


31 


350 

334 
29 s 


Av'ge of eight 


20^ 


170^ 


6 054: 


39^8 


35 


4^8 


31^3 

3IV2 


9 


20 


1595^ 


5 8K 


38 


343/ 


3^ 


lO 


21 


17b 


6 


42 


37 


5 


33 


^80 


II 


21 


170 


510^ 


3«^ 


34^ 


4 


32 


260 


12 


22 
21 


1 57 


6 


39K 


34K 


4^ 


31 


290 
306 
325 


Av'ge of four 


i6s% 


510K 


393/8 


35^^6 


4'^ 


31^8 


Av'ge of squad 


2oy^ 


169 


5 UK 


39^ 


35 


4K 


31^ 



112 Practical Rowing 

nal measurements, and vital capacities of the lungs 
of the individual members, with averages for the 
eight and four, and, finally, the averages for the 
entire squad: 

I. GENERAL SKETCH OF THE TRAINING 

Daily rowing, — During May and the first ten 
days of June the daily exercise consisted of rowing 
on the Charles in the latter part of the afternoon. 
The distance covered varied according to circum- 
stances from five to eight miles, occasionally more- 
At New London there was added a short morning 
row of two to four miles. Between the middle of 
May and the race there were five time-rows, — 
three on the Charles of three and three-eighths 
miles each, and two on the Thames over the four- 
mile course. These time-rows were designed to 
accustom the men to rowing long distances at high 
speed and to enable the coach to judge of their 
form and endurance, but incidentally they afforded 
excellent opportunities to study the effects of 
long-continued exertion, and were, moreover, strik- 
ing demonstrations of the effects of training. The 
earlier time-rows, though shorter than the later 
ones, were much more exhausting, and their effects 
on the hearts and kidneys — the organs showing 
most evidence of strain — were considerably greater. 



The Effects of Training 113 

For the purposes of this inquiry, however, the 
time-rows had to be regarded as factors disturbing 
the regular process of development which might 
be expected were the daily exercise uniform or 
slowly increased, and hence it became necessary 
to divide the observations into two parts, the first 
directed to the changes in the daily condition, 
eliminating the facts of the time-rows as far as 
possible, and the second directed to the immediate 
effects of the time-rows. 

Diet. — The diet allowed was a very generous 
one, consisting of a hearty breakfast at 7.30, 
luncji at one, and dinner after the evening row. 
For breakfast the fare consisted of fruit, oatmeal 
or shredded wheat, eggs, some form of meat, bread 
and butter, potato, and milk. At noon there was 
cold meat, potato, bread and butter, marmalade, 
preserved fruit, and milk. Dinner comprised soup, 
occasionally fish, roast beef or some other hot 
meat, several vegetables, bread and butter, and a 
simple dessert. No tea or coffee was allowed, but 
ale or claret was permitted at dinner, also water 
in small amounts as desired. During the last week 
before the race each man received a dish of calves'- 
foot jelly with sherry wine after the morning row, 
and a light lunch of oatmeal, milk, and bread was 
served at four o^clock in the afternoon. 

Sleepy bathings etc. - — The ordinary allowance of 

8 



114 Practical Rotting 

time for sleep was nine hours> — from ten to seven. 
General plunge baths were prohibited, but after 
rowing the men were allowed a cold shower bath 
in Cambridge and a bucket bath (for want of a 
shower) at New London. 

Besides rowing, the men indulged in very little 
exercise. While in New London a five-minute 
walk before breakfast, an occasional game of quoits 
or spasmodic efforts to play baseball, were the 
only other forms of exercise indulged in. When 
not rowing, sleeping, or eating, the men passed the 
time in reading, writing, or in pure and simple 
loafing. 

IL EFFECTS OF TRAINING 

Weight — It has long been recognized by athletic 
trainers that the weight is one of the best indi- 
cators of condition. The average weight of the 
eight men constituting the crew from May 1 8th to 
June 29th is shown in Chart i. 

During the first ten days of this period there 
were no marked variations, and in spite of two hard 
time-rows the average on May 29th was exactly the 
same as on May i8th, 171.4 pounds. Beginning 
May 30th, when there was a third time-row, there 
was a steady fall in weight for a week. The 
weather at this time was very hot and oppressive, 



The Effects of Training 115 





Pf ?:: R S S t5 S i2 S 3 


a 














./ 










?3 






















fCi 






















je 






















;5; 










/ 












fQ 










/ 








'O 




« 










is 








:s 






•ji 


Jf 


MO 


^ ^ 


WIJ_ 












CM 








S 






















22 










( 












^; 






















<£ 










( 












*n 


•lUI 


f ' 


\oy 


3W 


i.\ 


Noa 


lO-)/ 


A3N 


01 




^ 






















= 






















o 








■' 














O) 












J... 


# 








00 


- 




















r^ 




















- 


to 










' 


V 










'»o 


' 






.; 














rf 












/ 




'1 






UJ fO 

z 


• , 








/ 


/ 




o 


^ 










-:, 


/ 




--- 


:rz 






en 








/ 






- 








S 






/ 




lUJ 


^e 


AAO 


J3 


^'i 




a 




^ 


/ 




..^ 




- 


- 


- 




J^i 






\ 




i- 






* 






JS 




/ 




. 














a 




\ 






Ul 


^t 


AAO 


J 3 


■"1 




;^ 


















- 


- 


'« 






■ 


... 




# 


■>' 








?y 




) 






■:- 




.* 








^ 




( 






V- 


■-_- 


, 
















i 


J 


\. 


r' 


a 


•^' 


4 


^2 




1 


W 


^ 


4 


?■ 




V 


» 


* 




F 




^ ^ 


1 1 


il 


§i 


li 


IS 


ii 


s§ 






Q 

> 

< 



116 Practical Rowing 

and owing to the fact that the crew rowed for a 
few days on Spy Pond, Arlington, there was much 
delay in getting dinner. These two factors, added 
to the hard work the men were then doing, con- 
tributed to the fall in weight. From June 6th until 
the day of the race the average was very constant, 
fluctuating between 167 and 169 pounds, although 
individuals showed more or less variation. Losses 
in some men were usually balanced by gains in 
others. Chart II illustrates the range of variation 
in three of the crew. In the case of No. 7, whose 
condition was uniformly good, the variation was 
slight, and, leaving out of consideration the sharp 
fall during the time-row and race, amounted to but 
three pounds. In Nos. 6 and 3, on the other hand, 
the range of variation was ten and eight pounds 
respectively. No. 6 began hard training in April, 
and was somewhat slower in getting down to his 
normal training weight than the others. The sharp 
fall in No. 3's Hne between May 30th and June 2d 
was accompanied by some insomnia and general 
malaise, but unfortunately he was not under imme- 
diate observation at the time. One of the com- 
monest causes of fluctuation in weight was diarrhea. 
In several instances slight attacks caused a fall of 
three or four pounds in twenty-four hours, though 
in every case this was quickly restored soon after 
the diarrhea ceased. 



The Effects of Training 117 





g?g>?S?P^E?SS5SS3 


> 2 


f 




^ 








30 


tfd 










^ 




-=1 


=r 


"•:*• 





••"' 






s 






























.• 












?^ 


















yv 










, 


* 












JS 
















y 


^ 










•'% 


i.,— 












s 














/ 


, 


.>• 
























fQ 














y 


/ 














j 










• 

to 

1 


?d 














^N. 
















< 
















MO 


y 


\n\ 


L 


"^^ 








..„ 


•« 
















.2 


fSJ 






... 


.• 








J3 


s 














J 


^ 


i 






















£ 














/ > 


?•— 












\ 












Q 


ti 












^' 


s 


























£ 
















«k 












, 












a 


t2 










1 


^ 
















•*. 












1 


Ci 










I 






/ 
1 














■*;: 










•ts 


S 










J 






1 












.« 


• 












o> 








< 




















t' 












00 










> 








";> 






















vo" 


f>% 








< 








"^. 
























CO 


w 










N 


s. 






'' 


**^ 




















S 


*o 


• 








„-*- 


> 










N 






\ 












z 








< 
















^N 
















■4-> 










V. 


> 












.-- 


>-. 


\ 














55 










<: 








,rf 


• — 


• " 






: 












4-* 


^ 












> 




^' 
























*3 


a 










y 






s. 










.:*' 














. ^ 


Ki 






^ 


y 








\ 
^ 












> 












)-H 


« 




y^ 

s^ 










<^ 




























s 






> 








\ 


\ 












*•, 












< 


^ 




i 


■Xfc 










\ 
























X 
U 


^ 








> 




















\ 














^ 






/ 
























•• 












s 




< 








y' 


/" 
















: 












>- 




\ 


<, 




/ 




















: 












1^ 






> 






^1 


















> 














1 


\ I 


■i a 


I i 


\ I 


: t 


: L 


t ? 

— "i 


3 ? 


: C 




: s 


2 ? 


2 5 


5 5 


1 S 


3 ^ 


1 1 


^ 





118 



Practical Rowing 



TABLE II. Loss of Weight in Time-row of June 21 st. 





I 


2 

1 

2% 

3^ 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


Total. 


Av'ge. 


Preliminary loss 
Loss during time- 
row .... 


I 

2% 




2% 

2% 


I 
4 

5 


I 

2 

3 


2% 
3 


¥2 
3 


iK 
2 


6^ 
20K 


2%- 


Total loss . . 


z^^ 


3^ 


27 


zv^ 



TABLE III. Loss of Weight in Race, June 29TH. 





I 

2 
2K 


2 

2 


3 

2y, 
zv^ 

5^ 


4 


5 


6 

2K 

3 

5^. 


1 


8 


Total. 


Av'ge. 


Preliminary loss 
Loss during race 


3 

3^ 


I 
2 

3 




35^ 


2% 

2% 


12K 
22 

34^ 


2^ 
4^+ 


Total loss . . 


4K 


3K 


s% 



Tables II and III show the effect of the last 
time-row and of the races on the weight. The 
preliminary loss means that which is always no- 
ticed during the twenty-four hours before a race. 
It may be attributed to nervousness, affecting the 
appetite and urinary secretion. This prehminary 
loss, as might be expected, was considerably greater 
before the race than before the time-row, being 
12^ and 6% pounds respectively, while the actual 



The Effects of Traimng 119 

losses during the time-row and race were nearly 
the same, — 20^ and 22 pounds respectively. 

Through an oversight, the weights of the Varsity 
four-oared crew were not recorded during the last 
two weeks of training. A comparison of their 
weights immediately before and after the two- 
mile race showed an aggregate loss of 13 pounds, 
averaging 3^ pounds. 

Compensating for the rapid loss before and 
during the time-rows and races, there was noticed, 
after those events, an equally rapid recuperation ; 
this is shown in Table IV, in which are given the 
total losses and corresponding gains for the time- 
row of June 2 1 St. Every man recovered all or more 
than he had lost inside of twenty-four hours. 

TABLE IV. Twenty-four-hour Gain after Time-row 
OF June 2ist. 





I 


2 


3 

2K 

4K 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


Total- 


Av'ge. 


Total loss . . 
Gain in 24 hours 


2K 


3^ 
5 


s 

5^ 


> 

3^ 


3 


3^ 
3^ 


3^ 
3^ 




27 


1% 
4^6 


Net gain . . 


iK 


iK 


2 


K 


U 


y^ 





6K 


13/ 

At 



A loss of several pounds during prolonged ex- 
ertion does not by any means imply an undue 



120 Practical Bowing 

degree of exhaustion, provided the individual is in 
good condition. The men v^ho lost most were in 
fully as good condition as their companions, both 
before and after the race. It is generally accepted 
on experimental grounds that during active exer- 
cise the energy is largely, if not wholly, derived 
from the oxidation of fat and glycogen, and that 
the muscles themselves are not used up in the 
process. The end-products of this combustion — 
chiefly water and carbon dioxide — are rapidly 
excreted through the lungs and skin. The loss 
of weight represents very closely, therefore, the 
amount of fuel used up. Hence, the man who has 
an adequate supply of reserve fuel in the form of 
fat and glycogen is in better condition to withstand 
a prolonged exertion than one who is deficient in 
those substances. This corresponds with the expe- 
rience of all athletes. There is always a loss of 
weight during the early part of training, while a 
man is getting rid of superfluous fat, but every 
athlete knows that when a certain point is reached, 
— his so-called ** weight in training,'* — any further 
reduction is accompanied by a feeling of lassitude 
and an incapacity to sustain prolonged exertion 
without excessive fatigue. This form of over- 
training, known as " staleness,'' is in all probability 
due to a deficiency of reserve fuel. These facts 
emphasize the importance of maintaining at a 



The Effects of Training 121 

proper proportion the fat and carbohydrate con- 
stituents of the diet instead of sacrificing them 
for an excess of nitrogenous material, — a mistake 
which is undoubtedly often made and which will be 
discussed more in detail later. 

Temperature. — The temperatures were taken in 
the mouth twice daily, at ^8 A.M. and 9.30 P.M., 
during the last two weeks of training. The chief 
points brought out by the routine readings were 
the great variations in individual cases and the 
persistent tendency to subnormal temperatures. 
The average for the entire squad remained near 
98° F., as shown in Chart III. 



Lor 

100*' 

97^ 
96^ 



JUNE 

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 25 24 25 26 27 28 29 

























































1 




























/■ 










,-^ 






>'^^ 


_ 


u^ 


^ _ 


J^ 


i /^ 


J 


\ 


/ 


s/" 


"^ 
















^' 




















r 















Chart III. Temperature Chart of Entire Squad. 



A few individuals maintained approximately a 
normal average of 98.5°, but the majority showed 
wide variations. It was not uncommon to find a 
temperature of 96"^ in the morning and 98'' or more 



122 



Practical Rowing 



in the evening in the same man. Charts IV and V 
are fair sample charts. 



101** 


JUNE 
16 17 


18 


fg 


20 


21 


22 


23 


24 


25 


26 


27 


28 


29 


100° 






















































































^ 


9a ** 






IS 




A 




1^ 


A 


A 






A 


/ 




97* 


\ 


/^ 


J 


\ 


/' 


^7 


\ 


f V 


V 


y^ 


V- 


y^ 


/ 




96' 


1 


/ 


V 


V 























Chart IV. Temperature Chart of No. 8. 



JUNE 



inn® 






























lUU 

99® 






























f^^ 




















-A 






— ]t 


-/ 


Q7<> 


\ 


/ 


y 


V 


^ 


s^^ 


s/^ 


o 


'-^ 


r 


* — 


^ 


7^ 


7 






V- 
























V 



Chart V. Temperature Chart of No. 4. 

The individual variations could not be shown to 
have any definite relation to the general condition 
beyond the coincidence that those men who varied 
most in weight also varied in temperature. The 
body temperature is dependent on so many circum- 
stances that variations within limits are to be 



The Effects of Training 123 

expected. The heat production during muscular 
and other metabolic action is constantly balanced 
by the heat loss in warming the expired air, the 
urine and feces, by evaporation of perspiration, and 
by conduction and radiation from the skin. During 
training the greater part of the heat production by 
muscular action (supposed to be its main source) is 
confined to a comparatively brief portion of the 
twenty-four hours, and during the same portion the 
heat loss is also great. It is not surprising that 
the heat balance is not stationary and the charts 
show that in fact in the majority of cases it is not 
maintained at a fixed point. 

On the day of the races the temperatures were 
taken three times : first, at 8 A. M. ; second, while the 
men were dressing for the race ; and finally, from 
ten to fifteen minutes after the race while return- 
ing to the quarters in the launch. There was an 
average preliminary rise in temperature, corre- 
sponding to the preliminary fall in weight, amount- 
ing to about 1.5° F., followed by a slight rise of .2° 
during the four-mile race. In the case of the four- 
oared crew the average preliminary rise was .7° 
and a further rise during the two-mile race of 
.7°. A glance at the Table (V) shows that on the 
whole those men who had the greatest preliminary 
rise had either a stationary or falling temperature 
during the race (Nos. 2, 4, and 5). The other 



124 



Practical Rowing 



M 
U 

< 

Q 

W 

w 



o 

l-H 

H 

I— ( 
pj 



1-3 



a 




CO CO 






rf 


cS 


""f 


O t^ Ti- 


rN 


IN. 


IH 


V 


M-l 


o6 CO OS 


d 


O 


+ 


> 
< 




ON 0^ ON 




+ 






1-n ro 








£ 


00 


M lO t^ 


to 


• 


r^ 


se^ 


00 On ON 


M 


O 


i-i 


> 

<3 


o 


o\ 0\ o\ 




+ 


+ 










T^ M ro 


00 


H- 


On 
















M 


^ §; 8^ 


o 


d 


d 


3 






+ 


+ 




CO 00 M 


*o 


Tt 


ON 


O 


M 


00 ON O 


M 


o 


t-( 






ON ON O 




4- 


+ 




-^ r^ rt 


CO 


CO 


o 


2 

;2 


o 

M 


•8^ ^ ■§. 


o 


f 


o 




O C< 00 


c^ 


VO 


00 
















Ov 


r>, t«* ON 


o 


c^ 


N 






ON ON ON 




4- 


+ 






vo a\ N 


CO 


co 


VO 




00 


% % S!. 


d 


d 


O 








+ 


+ 




O c^ N 


CJ 


o 


M 




*• 


85 8 8 


M 


o 


1^ 
+ 




O VO VO 


VO 


o 


VO 




^ 


ON o o 


M 


d 


i-i 


Jc 




ON o o 






+ 




^ *> 1" 


•-< 


CO 


00 


tJO 


W) 


r^ d\ On 


c< 


o 


M 


H 
>. 




ON ON ON 




1 


+ 




VO VO t^ 


O 


H-) 


1^ 














CA 


-* 


VO 00 00 


c^ 


o 


c^ 


^ 




ON ON 0^ 




+ 


+ 




CO N CO 


ON 


H-l 


o 




ro 


^ 85 8 


o 


1-^ 

+ 


4- 




t^ O r^ 


CO 


CO 


o 




(S 




M 


1 


4- 




00 N t>H 


Tf 


lO 


a\ 




M 


t^ ON O 


M 


M 


^ 






0\ ON o 




+ 


4- 






-M • )-i 




. 








OJ (U o 


• 


0) 


• 






JD 4J 


o 


o 


C/3 






<u <u <u 


.2 




§ 






;- u ' i^ 


&> 


£^ 








13 P5 ^ 3 




a 






C^ ^-H (^ Cj (^ 

^ ^ >-• ^ ;» 

ioo g^ s^ 


1 


.2 

*J-I 


> 

O 






h H H 


Ph 


> 


H 



2'he Effects of Training 125 

extreme was seen in No. 9, who had a preliminary 
rise of only .2° and a rise during the race of 2.6°. 
In several instances the net variation was very 
slight. 

It was hoped that the temperature observations 
would throw some light on the remarkable results 
obtained by Drs. Williams and Arnold in their 
observations of the Marathon runners.^ They 
found a uniform drop during that race (a 25-mile 
run) of 2° to 5^2'^. That race, however, was run 
in the middle of April at a temperature of 44® F. 
and against an easterly wind, — the conditions all 
favoring rapid cooHng by conduction and evapora- 
tion. Furthermore, the temperatures were all taken 
in the mouth, and after nearly three hours of rapid 
breathing of air at 44° F. it is not unreasonable to 
assume that the mouth cavity may have been cooler 
than the body generally. One cannot accept as 
proved their assertion that after prolonged exertion 
the temperature is invariably lowered. It is the 
same with their implication that a subnormal tem- 
perature during training means *^ staleness." The 
idea was apparently based on the single observa- 
tion that the temperature of one of the contestants 
was 97.5° before and 97° after a practice run ; that 
the man was advised to rest and to partake of 

1 Philadelphia Medical Journal, iii, 1,233. 



126 Practical Rowing 

more carbohydrates; that on the morning of the 
race his temperature was 98.2°, and finally that he 
was among the winners. This observation proves 
nothing except that a rest and some carbohydrates 
are good things before a race. The temperature 
variation was quite within normal limits. If subnor- 
mal temperature means over-training, then nearly 
every man in the Harvard crew squad was over- 
trained at one time or another during the last two 
weeks before the races, a statement which certainly 
would not be borne out by the other facts in their 
condition, nor by the vigor which they all displayed 
during the last time-row, and especially during the 
races. The rise of temperature observed just be- 
fore the races certainly did not mean a rapid recov- 
ery from a condition of ** staleness,** but simply 
indicated that for some reason, probably a nervous 
one due to excitement, the heat production was 
greater than the heat loss. During the boat races, 
which were rowed on a clear, sunny day at a tem- 
perature of about 80° F. and low humidity, the 
conditions were favorable for rapid heat loss by 
perspiration and radiation, so that the excessive 
heat production which, according to all physiologi- 
cal experience, must have taken place was readily 
dissipated and the temperature balance main- 
tained. On the whole, we must admit that a sub- 
normal temperature, while of possible significance, 



The Effects of Training 127 

cannot yet be regarded as a positive proof of 
over-training. 

Circulatory system, — Periodic examinations of 
the heart and pulse were made, special attention 
being given to the size of the heart, to the occur- 
rence of abnormal sounds, and to the rate and 
character of the pulse. Examinations were also 
made after several time-rows and both races. 

Inspection of precordia^ etc. — All of the men 
showed a prominence of the precordial region and 
a more diffuse pulsation than normal. The apex 
beat, when visible, was usually located in the fifth 
intercostal space, just inside the mammillary line. 
After the time-rows and races the apex beat was 
visibly displaced to the left, and in many instances 
a marked precordial and epigastric pulsation was 
noted. There was also in most cases visible pul- 
sation in the peripheral arteries, most marked in the 
subclavians and carotids. The color was uniformly 
good, there being no instances of noticeable pallor 
or cyanosis, in spite of considerable disturbance 
of the heart's action in some cases. 

Size of heart, — The routine examinations were 
all made in the middle of the afternoon, before 
rowing, so that the hearts might have recovered 
as far as possible from the rowing of the day be- 
fore, and might be taken at their minimum size. 
Further examinations were made after the time- 



128 Practical Rowing 

row of June 2ist and after the races. The method 
pursued was as follows. The heart sounds were 
first examined and the apex beat located with 
the man standing. The man then lay flat and the 
apex beat was again located by sight and ausculta- 
tion. Then, by combined auscultation and percus- 
sion, using the phonendoscope, the right, left and 
upper borders were found and outlined. The 
method is open to objection, as already stated, but 
seemed to be the most accurate under the circum- 
stances, and by considering averages it was hoped 
that individual errors might, to a certain extent, be 
eliminated. The outlines were transferred to trac- 
ing cloth, the position of the nipples marked, and 
the chart then made was kept for comparison. 
In measuring variations it was found that two fixed 
lines were necessary, one connecting the nipples — 
the intermammillary Hne — and the other bisecting 
the first at right angles — the median line of the 
chest. The ordinary terms employed clinically 
giving the position of the borders in relation to the 
sternum, ribs, or nipples, are so variable in different 
individuals that no mean can be determined. The 
position of the apex beat was measured both from 
the median line and the intermammillary line ; the 
right and left borders were measured from the 
median line, the former at the level of the nipples, 
the latter at the apex. The upper border was 



The Effects of Training 129 

measured from a line drawn through the apex 
parallel to the intermammillary line. By averaging 
these various measurements it was easy to construct 
a chart representing the average heart of the squad, 
and also to estimate the average variation. 

The following Table (VI) and Chart (VI) give 
the measurements and variations of the average 
heart of the entire squad. They show that there 
was a progressive enlargement affecting both sides 
of the heart during May and reaching its maximum 
early in June. After this there was a considerable 
shrinkage, especially of the left side, both the left 
border and the apex beat receding towards the 
median line until their positions were not very 

TABLE VI. Average Heart Measurements of Squad. 



Dates 
of ^ 
examinations. 


Si 


Apex 


beat. 




i 




Upper 


border. 


ij 

ii 


II 


1 


u 


May 9-17 . . 


II 


cm. 
8.5 


cm. 


cm. 

3-9 


cm. 
12.0 


cm. 
159 


cm. 
5.6 


cm, 

3-9 


May 18-26 . . 


II 


9.0 


44 


5' I 


12.8 


17-9 


6.6 


4-4 


June 2-8 ... 


12 


97 


4.9 


6.0 


13.2 


19.2 


6.0 


3.8 


June 17 ... . 


12 


9-9 


5.3 


57 


12.9 


18.6 


5.0 


3-2 


June 29 before race 


12 


9-5 


5.0 


5.8 


12.3 


18.1 

1 


5-5 


3-8 



130 



Practical Roxmiig 










! i 



I I 



a 
u 



r- CD CO 

I i I 

Q) 00 c\j 



1^. 



C 
13 



— CM 



At.t.-»;t. 



(0 

to 



® 



^ 3 

> 
< 



The Effects of Training 131 

different from those of early May. The right side 
of the heart also showed shrinkage, but to a less 
degree than the left. The position of the upper 
border varied considerably in the different exami- 
nations, depending apparently partly on the fulness 
of the stomach and partly on the depth of respira- 
tion. The relative rise and fall of the apex beat 
could not be followed as closely as its lateral move- 
ment, owing to the ribs. 

The period of the greatest enlargement corre- 
sponded to the period of the most arduous work, 
late in May and early in June, when the final 
selection of men was being made, and when con- 
sequently every man was pulling his hardest. 
Probably the individual strain was greater at this 
time, because the crew had not yet learned to pull 
as a unit. Then, too, as already mentioned, the 
weather was very unfavorable, and the effort re- 
quired to do the work was considerably greater 
than was needed later. The better weather condi- 
tions prevailing at New London, the more uniform 
rowing as the form of the crew w^as perfected, and 
the more accurate adaptation of each man's rig- 
ging to his peculiarities, — all tended to lessen the 
strain on the individual oarsman, and, by enabling 
him to do his work with less muscular effort, pro- 
portionately diminished the labor demanded of the 
heart 



132 



Practical Rowing 



How much of the enlargement was due to hyper- 
trophy and how much to dilatation is difficult to 
say. Probably there were both hypertrophy and 
dilatation. The accompanying change in the 
heart sounds in certain cases to be described later 
would indicate that there was considerable dilata- 
tion at first, but that subsequently the hearts grad- 
ually recovered tone and a true compensatory 
hypertrophy took place. 



© 



.Average of Eight 
Before Race 
After " 

June 29, 1899 



%^ 




Chart VII. 



© 



Average of Four 
Before Race 
After " 

June 29, 1839 




Chart VIIL 



The Effects of Training 133 

During the races, both four-mile and two-mile, 
a considerable dilatation took place, as shown in 
Charts VII and VIII. The average increase in 
breadth of the cardiac dulness was nearly the 
same in the two crews, — 1.4 centimetres for the 
eight and 1.5 centimetres for the four. The marked 
rise of the upper border relative to the inter- 
mammillary line may be attributed to the fact that 
the examinations after the race were unavoidably 
delayed until after dinner, and consequently allow- 
ance must be made for the full stomach. 

Heart sounds. — The twelve men in the squad 
may be divided into three groups according to the 
effect of the training and races on their heart 
sounds and action. 

In Group I, numbering five men, may be placed 
those whose hearts developed no markedly ab- 
normal condition. The pulse rate at rest varied 
from 60 to 80, and after the time-rows and races, 
rose to 120 or thereabouts. The sounds remained 
normal, except that the first sound became some- 
what louder and rougher than normal. Both 
the first and second sounds were occasionally 
reduplicated. 

In Group II, including two men, the routine 
examination showed nothing abnormal, but after 
the time-rows and race both developed a faint 
blowing systolic murmur, loudest at the left margin 



1^4 Practical Rowing 

of the sternum in the second and third intercostal 
spaces, but also audible at the apex. As in 
Group I, there was some tendency to reduphcation 
of the sounds, but the rhythm remained normal. 

In Group III may be placed the remaining five 
men, whose hearts showed abnormalities of sound 
or action at several different examinations, both 
before and after unusual effort. The most extreme 
case deserves a detailed description. This man 
had had rheumatism and typhoid, and had been 
informed several years before that his heart was 
weak. 

Following are the notes as taken : 

May lO. Pulse 96; irregular. Diffuse pre- 
cordial and epigastric pulsation ; pulmonic second 
sound accentuated; blowing systolic murmur au- 
dible over entire cardiac area, loudest in pulmonic 
area and at apex. 

May 18. Pulse 84; irregular; heart sounds as 
above, but murmur inaudible at apex. 

May 25, after time-row of 3^ miles. Pulse 
138; very irregular; two sounds of equal intensity 
at apex ; rhythm embryonic ; murmurs very loud 
over entire precordia. 

May 30, before time-row. Pulse 84, somewhat 
irregular; murmur faint. After time-row of 3^ 
miles. Pulse, 128; fairly regular; murmur much 
fainter than after previous time-row. ' 



The Effects of Training 135 

June 7. Pulse 88; sounds as before time-row 
of May 30. 

June 17. Pulse 78 ; regular ; murmur very faint 

June 21. Pulse 82; regular; no murmur. Two 
hours and a half after four-mile time-row. Pulse 
98; regular; no murmur. 

June 29, before race. Pulse 84; regular; no 
murmur. Three hours after race. Pulse 88; 
murmur audible, but very faint General condition 
excellent. 







Outline of Heart of X 

Before Race . 

After '* .^ 




Chart IX. 



® 1 




I 
I 

Outline of Heart of X 

May 10 . 

June 17-29 



Chart X. 



136 Practical Bowing 

The changes in the size of this heart correspond- 
ing to the changes in sounds and action are shown 
in Chart X, while the comparatively slight increase 
during the race itself is brought out in Chart IX. 

The gradual improvement in this heart was one 
of the most instructive points in the entire inves- 
tigation. After the time-row of May 25 th it was 
in bad shape. The irregularity, accentuated pul- 
monic second sound, embryonic rhythm, and rapid 
action, together with the enlargement, which was 
well marked, all pointed to an acute dilatation. 
During June the estabHshment of a compensatory 
hypertrophy was indicated by the return to normal 
rhythm and rate, the practical disappearance of 
the murmur, and the stationary size. With all the 
disturbance shown by examination of this man's 
heart, there was nothing in his appearance or 
capacity for work which would have called atten- 
tion to his heart. If he had been advised to stop 
rowing w^hen his heart was first examined the best 
demonstration of the beneficial effects of training 
would have been missed and the crew would have 
lost a very valuable man. 

The four other hearts in this group showed 
much the same conditions, though in a less degree. 
All finished the race in good condition and with- 
out any more exhaustion than their companions. 

Pulse. — The character and rate of the pulse 



The Effects of Training 137 

have already been mentioned in several instances, 
and it is only necessary to add that it was invari- 
ably of high tension after unusual effort. This 
was no confirmation of Williams' and Arnold*s 
observation of diminished tension in the Marathon 
runners. It is possible that the exhaustion of the 
latter was extreme, and their hearts mav have 
been much more affected than was the case with 
the crews. It is to be regretted that circumstances 
forbade the taking of sphygmographic tracings. 

The cause of the murmur in acutely dilated 
hearts is ably discussed by Williams and Arnold ; 
no evidence was secured in this study opposed to 
their conclusion that the bruits are of mitral origin 
and are due partly to a relaxation of the circular 
muscular fibres surrounding the orifice and partly 
to fatigue of the papillary muscles which control 
the movements of the valve-cusps. 

The chief deduction to be made from this study 
of the hearts is that the heart is a muscular organ, 
and that it shows with the other muscles both the 
fatigue due to violent and prolonged exertion and 
also the increase in size and power due to proper 
exercise and nutrition. The fatigue results in 
dilatation, the increased power in hypertrophy, 
and one of the main objects of training is the 
establishment of this hypertrophy. The physiolog- 
ical capabilities of the heart are enormous, and in 



138 Practical Rowing 

judging of the effect of any undue exertion on it 
we must not regard the murmurs and irregularity 
alone, but must also consider carefully the way in 
which the heart is doing its work, its strength, as 
shown by its ability to maintain a p'roper arterial 
tension, and its recuperative power. As with 
other muscles, not size but quality tells in the 
long run. 

Kidneys. — Periodic examinations of the urine 
were made coincidently with the heart examina- 
tion. An attempt was made to estimate the 
twenty-four-hour amount, specific gravity, urea 
percentage, and total urea, to test for albumin and 
sugar, and to examine the sediment microscopically. 
The figures given below, as far as they refer to 
the twenty-four-hour amount and calculations based 
thereon, are probably considerably less than they 
should be. Even with the best intentions, slips of 
memory were liable to occur, and the full amount 
of urine passed was not always saved. Perhaps 
ten to twenty per cent should be added to the 
urea excretion for this reason. 

The urea was estimated by Squibb's ureometer. 
For albumin both the nitric-acid and heat tests 
were employed, and in case of doubt the picric- 
acid test was resorted to. When an appreciable 
amount was found, Esbach's albuminometer tube 
was used. The sugar test used was Fehling*s. 



The Effects of Training 139 



TABLE VII. Average Urine Tests. 



Date. 


No. 
examined. 


24-hour 
amount. 


Specific 
gravity. 


Urea, 
per cent. 


Total 
urea. 


May 9-17 


II 


c.c. 
I181 


1.028 


342 


gms. 

39- S 


May 18-26 


II 


1396 


1.027 


2.68 


36.9 


June 2-8 


12 


1028 


1.027 


2.76 


27^3 


June 18 


12 


1403 


1.022 


2.53 


34.2 


June 20 


12 


1374 


1.024 


2.66 


36.3 



The main facts ascertained are summarized in 
Table VII, subject to correction, as noted above. 
These figures denote a moderate increase in the 
urea secretion above the normal, and by implica- 
tion a moderate increase in nitrogenous metab- 
olism, but by no means as great an increase as 
one would expect if all the proteids eaten were 
absorbed and utiHzed. Physiologists have proved 
that an increase in the urea elimination above 
normal limits is usually caused by an increase in 
proteid digestion, and not by an increase of mus- 
cular action. 

Sugar, — The tests for glucose were invariably 
negative. 

Albumin. — An unexpected fact brought out in 
the routine examination was the presence of traces 



140 Practical Rowing 

of albumin in the urine of a large proportion of 
the squad under ordinary conditions of training. 
The twenty-four-hour amounts were examined 
six times, the tests being made intentionally only 
after a lapse of several days after the time-rows, 
to eliminate their effects as far as possible. In 
eighty-three specimens examined albuminuria was 
present forty-eight times. The amount of albumin 
was never more than a trace. 

Sediment — The albuminuria was, with but few 
exceptions, always accompanied by renal casts and 
epithelium, and occasionally by a considerable 
excess of leucocytes. In several instances a few 
casts were found in urines which gave negative 
albumin tests. In the few cases of albuminuria 
without casts, partial decomposition had taken place 
before the microscopic examination, so that casts 
may have been present but obscured. 

AlbtLminiiria after time-rows and races, — After 
three of the time-rows, and after both races, the 
first urine passed was examined for albumin and 
casts. The specimens were all small in quantity, 
— one to three ounces, — highly concentrated, and 
invariably contained considerable amounts of albu- 
min, as shown in Table VIII. The largest percen- 
tage observed (0.9 per cent, Esbach) was in the 
urine of one of the four-oared crew, after the two- 
mile race. The sediments contained correspond- 



The Effects of Training 141 



^ 




g 




H 




X/i 




U 




(^ 




&< 




M 




P^ 




en 




(ij 




(^ 




t) 




O 




»-i 




\^ 


04 




M 




H 


xn 


W 




o 
1— 1 






CO 


<1 


^ 


r/? 


O 
P4 


M 


pSi 




s 


« 


hH 


rn 


H W 




CO 


<: 


W 


< 
p< 


^ 

H 


t3 

1^ 


§ 
^ 

^ 




(In 



H 











5^ 










lO 








oo 


N 

d 


d 


o 
d 


o 
d 




**- 




o 
d 








0) 




:^ 




NO 


::^ 
M 


lO 








^ 


nj 


m 


r^ 


o 




M 


i—i 


o 










H 


o 
d 


o 
d 


d 






d 


d 


















CO 
























a; 

3 




<u 


<L) 




















:^ 




^ 


0) 




m 

^ 


(J 


;^ 








NO 


d 


o 

d 


o 
d 




5 

3 
C/3 






H 






t 


• 


o 




















^ 


^ 








IH 




d 






• 


1/) 


c^ 


N 


m 


li^ 














^ 
M 




H4 


)_4 


o 


o 
















d 


d 


d 


d 






:^ 








w 














s 








>, 
















o 






"!J5 




:^ 




<u 








d 


d 






> 


Tf 




o 


*^ 


o 






























d 


d 


H 


d 




M 




o 




o 

















^ 












d 


d 




d 




























rn 


















d 


d 


d 


d 


3 


M 




lO 




o 












o 


M 




o 
d 




M 




«S 


• 


, 


i 






d 




d 
















• 


• 




o 






ir> 


VO 




lo 






• 


• 


d 


> 


o 


M 


l-H 




M 


















d 


d 




d 




o 




4) 


, 














M 


S-i 


d 


O 


• 




©s 




-s 




& 






H 


H 


• 






d 


6 




d 




^ 


^ 


^ 






^ 


^ 


^ 




s 


o 


o 


o 




J* 


o 


o 


o 




O 


t 


s 


s 


CO 

OJ 






s 


S 


O 


a 


s 


s 


5^ 


1 


a 


s 


s 


1^ 


° 


H 


P 


H 


o 


H 


H 


*H 




lO 


o 


M 


On 




lO 


o 


l-H 


Cn 


<i5 


N 


CO 


M 


N 


o3 


M 


CO 


N 


C^ 


4!j 


>-, 


>. 


(D 


^ 


^ 


>-, 


>-• 


OJ 


<u 


Q 


oi 


cj 


C 


C 


Q 


rt 


pj 


c 


c 


S 


§ 






S 


s 


3 
t— i 





142 Practical Rowing 

ingly large numbers of hyaline and finely granular 
casts, many having renal cells, and red blood 
corpuscles adherent. In many of the sediments 
there was also a considerable number of red blood 
corpuscles and an excess of leucocytes. The 
sediment in many cases was exactly that of the 
first stage of acute nephritis, and, if examined 
without a knowledge of the conditions, might 
easily have caused anxiety. 

To find out how long the albuminuria and casts 
continued, after the time-row of May 30th, single 
specimens were examined the following day, before 
the afternoon row, with the result that of fourteen 
samples, two contained a trace, and one had 0.025 
per cent. It is regretted that tests were not made 
after the rowing on ordinary days, since it is prob- 
able that even this may have caused an appre- 
ciable albuminuria, and that the traces found in 
the twenty-four-hour specimens really represented 
a considerable amount of albumin passed in one 
urination after rowing, diluted with non-albuminous 
urine passed during the rest of the day. 

The renal conditions may be interpreted as an 
active hyperaemia, becoming intense during the 
time-rows and races, and dependent in all prob- 
ability on the increased arterial tension. Whether 
the hyperaemia ever leads to permanent changes in 
the kidneys is a matter for future investigation. 



The Effects of Training 143 

The blood, — Numerous estimates of the specific 
gravity of the blood were made by Hammer- 
schlag's method, with the intention of making 
blood counts and hemoglobin tests should any 
variation from the normal be observed. The 
method, however, was found to be tedious and un- 
reliable, the results varying according to the tem- 
perature. In several instances, when the specific 
gravity was low, — 1.050, or thereabouts, — a blood 
count and hemoglobin test gave normal figures. 
The examinations made yielded no information of 
importance and were therefore discontinued. 

The digestive system, — One of the most trouble- 
some features in training of all kinds is the care of 
the digestive organs. Many a race has been lost 
because of weak stomachs, and because of prostra- 
tion due to diarrhea. The crew squad this year 
offered no exception to this common tendency, 
for there were several cases of temporary attacks 
of indigestion and diarrhea. These troubles ought 
not to be attributed to the training, but to improper 
diet and methods of eating. The food provided 
was all that could be desired in quality and in 
preparation. The chief criticisms suggested were 
in regard to the selection of food by the men them- 
selves, and to their common habit of eating too 
much and too fast, — faults not confined to crew- 
men, but nevertheless unwise. The one aim of 



144 Practical Rowing 

many of the men seemed to be to consume as 
much meat as they could get, and in the shortest 
possible time. The amount of roast beef devoured 
at a single meal was astonishing, a man often 
disposing of five or six large slices. 

It has already been pointed out, in discussing 
variations in weight, that the energy set free in 
muscular exercise is derived largely from the com- 
bustion of fat and carbohydrate material, while the 
proteid metabolism is directed chiefly to repairing 
waste. To use a rough illustration, if we regard 
the body as a machine, the proteid elements of 
the food go largely to replace the wear and tear 
of the machine itself, while the carbohydrates and 
fats furnish the fuel whose combustion liberates 
heat and energy, and thus enables the machine 
to do its work. Of course the body is not a 
machine, and this comparison is not true, except 
in a general way. During training, the wear and 
tear of the body, generally, is much increased, 
and the proteid elements of the food must be 
increased accordingly; but it is an error to increase 
them so enormously, as is frequently the case. 
The slight increase in the urea excretion indicates 
that most of the proteid material must pass through 
the digestive tract unassimilated. This throws a 
great deal of extra work upon the digestive or- 
gans, — work which does no good to the body, 



The Effects of Training 145 

but may, and undoubtedly often does, do harm 
in causing indigestion and diarrhea. 

The subject is deserving of study based on analy- 
ses of the food and of the excretions. A more 
accurate adjustment of food to needs and more time 
spent in mastication would unquestionably prevent 
that sensitiveness of the digestive organs which is 
one of the bugbears of the trainer. 

III. OVER-TRAINING 

It was hoped that during this investigation data 
might be obtained bearing on the subject of over- 
training, but unfortunately (or fortunately, accord- 
ing to the point of view) there were no typical cases 
to study. The common symptoms are well known. 
They are, in brief, a loss of strength and endurance, 
so that a man previously strong becomes incapable 
of prolonged effort. This m.ay be accompanied by 
a general nervous restlessness, by listlessness, by a 
loss of weight, by insomnia, and by various digestive 
disturbances, such as anorexia and diarrhea. These 
symptoms should not be confounded with the 
temporary collapse which is occasionally seen after 
a severe exertion and which is more apt to be due 
to under-training than to over-training. The real 
condition at the bottom of over-training is still 
obscure, but in the light of this inquiry certain 

10 



146 Practical Rowing 

possibilities are suggested as factors which may 
have to do with its causation. 

The first and most obvious one is the condition 
of the heart. We have seen that a great increase 
in size and strength is demanded of this organ, and 
it may easily happen that it is called upon for more 
work than it is able to do, and that instead of 
establishing a compensatory hypertrophy it be- 
comes dilated and weakened. A ** broken-winded " 
athlete is probably one with a dilated, flabby heart. 

The second possible factor is the condition of 
nutrition. This is more difficult of demonstration 
than the first. As already pointed out, the nutri- 
tion may be disturbed in two ways, — either by an 
improper diet, in which the nutritive elements are 
not apportioned to the needs of the body, or by 
disturbed digestion, as a result of which the food 
taken into the body is not utilized. That both of 
these contingencies may occur has been sufficiently 
demonstrated. 

The third factor may be simple overwork. This 
is not so likely as the two preceding, for when 
properly nourished, the capacity for work on the 
part of healthy young men is certainly much 
greater than that demanded in training. The 
peculiarity of training work, however, is its con- 
centration. It may be that the excessive work 
accomplished in a brief space of time exhausts 



The Effects of Training 147 

the muscles so that they do not recuperate before 
being called upon for a repetition of the work — 
that there is, so to speak, an accumulation of 
fatigue, and that this constitutes over-training. 

The fourth factor which suggests itself is a ner- 
vous one, and this, while more intangible than the 
others, is unquestionably an important one. In 
the present state of our knowledge it can only be 
surmised, not proved. It is well known that there 
is a nervous fatigue entirely distinct from muscular 
fatigue, and resulting from prolonged anxiety, from 
monotony of work and from numerous other causes. 
It may be that anxiety about a coming contest, 
together with the prolonged mental strain of mas- 
tering the technicaHties of such a difficult art as 
rowing or such a complicated game as football, 
may lead to a condition of nervous exhaustion, and 
that this nervous exhaustion contributes to over- 
training. 

No one of these factors will account for all cases 
of over-training, and probably more than one cause 
must be admitted. At any rate, it is safe to suggest 
certain points which should be borne in mind in 
laying out any course of training. They are: (i) 
not to throw too much work upon the muscles, 
and especially upon the heart, until they are 
strengthened by preliminary work ; (2) to watch 
the nutrition carefully; and (3) to avoid nervous 



148 Practical Rovcing 

fatigue by providing a certain variety of exercise, 
and by not confining the attention too closely to 
the approaching contest. 

Finally, this investigation has demonstrated that 
the physiological effects of training, on the heart and 
kidneys in particular, may approach unpleasantly 
near to pathological conditions, and that there 
should be some competent supervision to insure 
that the safe limits, when those are determined, 
shall not be passed. 



FOOTBALL AND ROWING 
COMPARED 

Since the summer of 1899 the investigation 
into the effects of training, instigated by the 
Harvard Athletic Committee, has been carried on 
in several directions. In the first place, during 
the autumn of 1899 an attempt was made to con- 
duct a series of observations on the Harvard foot- 
ball squad similar to those carried on with the 
crews and reported in a previous article. In the 
second place, a number of exam.inations were 
made during the year of the crew men who were 
under observation in the spring of 1899, to deter- 
mine whether the abnormal conditions developed 
during that period of training were permanent. 
Finally, during the 1900 rowing season a further 
study was made of the university and freshmen 
crews, largely for the purpose of corroborating the 
results obtained in 1899. Furthermore, the assist- 
ance of Prof VV. O. Atwater and Dr. F. J. Benedict, 
of Middletown, Conn., was obtained, by whom 
an exhaustive dietary and digestive experiment 
was conducted, the results of which are given in 



150 Practical Rowing 

a separate paper.^ Following is a brief summary 
of the results obtained along the various line of 
study. 

I. FOOTBALL TRAINING 

Although a large number of examinations were 
made, the results as a whole were not satisfactory. 
It was not possible to follow the individual players 
with any degree of completeness, owing to the irreg- 
ularity of their work and the many interruptions 
due to injuries. The constant excitement attend- 
ing the practice and games, and the noisy con- 
ditions under which the examinations had to be 
made, were not conducive to accurate observa- 
tions. A detailed account of the observations 
would be largely a repetition of those previously 
reported, so it will suffice merely to point out the 
more salient features. The routine examinations 
were made just before the afternoon practice, so 
as to eliminate as far as possible the immediate 
effects of the playing and to get the hearts at the 
supposedly most quiet period. Seventeen selected 
members of the squad were examined one or more 
times, chief attention being paid to the hearts and 
kidneys. It was not practicable to make extended 
observations on the fluctuations of weight, tempera- 
ture, etc. 

1 The summary of this article will be found on page 163. 



The Effects of Training 151 

Hearts. — Of the seventeen men examined, four- 
teen showed no marked disturbance of the heart's 
action, although in all the heart was somewhat 
larger than normal, and in several instances there 
appeared to be a noticeable reduction in its size 
as the season progressed. Several hearts showed 
some irregularity in rhythm, but without abnormal 
sounds ; and in several the first sound was some- 
what harsher than the normal at the apex, but not 
sufficiently changed to be considered a murmur. 
In three hearts the changes were marked enough 
to warrant more detailed description. The most 
pronounced disturbance was in the case of a man 
who had been an athlete for several years and had 
had no history of heart trouble. His general con- 
dition was excellent throughout the period of 
training, though once disabled by injury. On 
October 4th, after about two weeks of hard playing, 
his pulse was 72 and somewhat irregular. The 
apex beat was in the mammillary line and there 
was distinct epigastric pulsation. On auscultation 
a loud systolic murmur could be heard at the apex. 
This was propagated into the axilla and was audible, 
though less distinct in the second, third, and fourth 
intercostal spaces at the left border of the sternum. 
On October 27th the pulse was 57 and regular. 
The murmur was still distinct at the apex, but was 
not conducted. This improvement was thought 



152 Practical Bowing 

to be due to an enforced rest of two weeks, fol- 
lowing an injury. On November 17th, just before 
the Yale game, the murmur could be heard clearly 
at the apex and very faintly at the left sternal 
border. In February, 1900, three months after 
stopping training, the pulse was y6y regular and 
normal. The apex beat was about an inch inside 
the nipple line, and there was no abnormal pulsa- 
tion. The cardiac rhythm was normal, but a faint 
systolic murmur was still audible at the apex. 

The abnormal signs in this case were so marked 
and persistent that it seems probable that there 
was a sHght organic lesion of the mitral valve. 
The condition was not unlike that of one of the 
crew in 1899, previously reported, and as in that 
instance, while the hard work of the first part of 
the training season disturbed the heart's action to 
a marked degree, there was a steady improvement 
as the season advanced. It is not to be denied 
that there is a risk in allowing men with such 
hearts to take part in contests involving such pro- 
longed and violent efforts as football and rowing, 
but in the light of these cases it is difficult to pre- 
dict just what the result in any given instance is 
likely to be. 

In the other two cases of well-marked cardiac 
disturbance the trouble was of a temporary nature. 
In one the first sound w^as always harsh and the 



The Effects of Training 153 

action somewhat unsteady, but no murmur ap- 
peared until just before the Yale game, when a 
well-marked murmur was audible at the apex and 
left sternal border. In the third case the disturb- 
ance was marked only at the first examination. 
This man joined the squad late, and was examined 
after but two days of hard practice. The chief 
abnormal sign, beyond enlargement of the cardiac 
dulness, was a loud blowing systolic murmur at 
the left border of the sternum. At subsequent 
examinations this gradually became fainter, and 
after four weeks it disappeared entirely. 

The condition of the heart immediately after 
playing a hard game was studied in a number of 
instances. The effects as a rule were like those 
observed after hard rowing; that is, an increase 
in the area of dulness, increased pulse rate up 
to 150 or even more, a roughening of the first 
sound at the apex, and very often a faint blowing 
systolic murmur heard most distinctly in the pul- 
monic area. In vigorous hearts these signs were 
of brief duration, and were interpreted as indicating 
merely a passing dilatation. The examinations 
were all made with the man first standing erect 
and then with him lying supine. In several in- 
stances, but not in all, lying down caused an 
immediate drop in the pulse rate. In one case, 
standing, it was 144; lying, it at once fell to 64; 



154 Practical Rowing 

standing a second time it rose to II2, and again 
lying it fell to 68. The normal rate for this man 
was about 68, and his heart never showed any- 
other disturbance. In a second case the pulse rate 
fell from I20 to 72 on lying down, and in a third 
case from 108 to 72. Other cases showed no 
marked effects from changes of position. 

Kidneys, — The urine of sixteen members of 
the squad was examined one or more times dur- 
ing the training season. In each instance the full 
twenty-four hour amount was collected and meas- 
ured, and the specific gravity, percentage of urea, 
and total urea were determined. The specimen 
was then tested for albumin and the sediment 
examined microscopically. The average daily 
renal excretion was 11 24 c.c, specific gravity 
1.027, urea percentage 3.30, and total urea elimi- 
nation 36.2 gms. In six cases out of sixteen al- 
bumin was present in small amount at one or more 
examinations and was always accompanied by 
hyalin and granular casts, an excess of leucocytes, 
and occasionally by red blood corpuscles. 

A number of additional examinations were made 
of urine passed immediately after hard playing, 
and in every instance considerable amounts of 
albumin were found (from %o% to %„% Esbach), 
together with many casts, and usually red blood 
corpuscles. 



The Effects of Training 155 

II. COMPARISON OF EFFECTS OF ROWING 
AND FOOTBALL 

On the whole, the effects of football training 
are not markedly different from those of rowing, 
though the departures from the normal are not 
so great. This is readily explained by the in- 
termittent nature of the effort in football. The 
game consists of a series of exertions, each one 
exhausting but brief. The intervals of rest occupy 
a large portion of the time of play. This is in 
marked contrast to rowing, in which the periods 
of effort are far more prolonged, and the exertion, 
while less violent, is continuous. In both sports 
the effects of training appear to be to accustom 
the heart, kidneys, and other organs to the extraor- 
dinary demands, so that as the season progresses 
they do their work more easily. 

III. FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
EFFECT OF ROWING 

During the 1900 rowing season a second series 
of examinations was undertaken, similar to that 
of the preceding year, with the object of verifying 
the facts then ascertained. The general effects on 
the weight, temperature, heart, kidneys, etc., were 
in all important points the same, and need not be 
described again at this time. Two events, how- 



156 Practical Rowing 

ever, occurring at the very end of the training 
season, were of great interest from the physiolog- 
ical point of view. One was the effect on the crew, 
as a whole, of the accjdent which deprived it of its 
stroke and captain four days before the race, and 
the other was the collapse of the substitute stroke 
during the race. On the Sunday preceding the 
Thursday of the race the captain twisted his right 
ankle, fracturing the lower end of the fibula. Up 
to this time the men, with a single possible excep- 
tion, had been in excellent physical condition. 
There had been less than the usual disturbance of 
digestion and other untoward symptoms, which 
are so common during the last part of a severe 
period of training. The accident necessitated the 
substitution of a new stroke, and a great increase 
in the amount of rowing above that which had 
been planned for the remaining days, in order to 
accustom the men, as far as possible, to the new 
arrangement. The result was a marked change in 
the general tone of the men. The calmness and 
quiet determination which had characterized them 
hitherto was replaced by a nervousness and rest- 
lessness, and they attacked their work with a kind 
of desperation. Coincidently, there was a tempo- 
rary falling-off in the appetites, and, in most cases, 
some loss of sleep. The effect on the weights was 
striking. The men were not v/eighed on Sunday, 



The Effects of Training 157 

the 24th, so comparison must be made with the 
Saturday weighings. For purposes of compari- 
son let us take only the afternoon weights of the 
seven men who were in the boat during all of 
the last fortnight. On June 14th, when the crew 
arrived at New London, the average weight of the 
seven was 171.9 pounds. During the following 
week it fell to 169.6 pounds. It then rose once 
more and reached the former mark on June 23d, 
the day before the accident. After this it fell, 
on the average over four pounds per man, reach- 
ing 167.2 pounds, just before the race. Allowance 
must be made for the loss of weight which always 
occurs before a contest. During the correspond- 
ing period in 1899 the average loss was a little over 
two pounds per man, most of this coming during 
the last twenty-four hours. 

The excessive loss of weight may be attributed 
partly to indigestion, partly to insomnia, and partly 
to the increased work done. However, the condi- 
tion of the men on the whole, just before the race, 
was thought to be fairly good, though not as good 
as it had been a week earlier. With the exception 
of the substitute stroke, all finished the race in fair 
condition. One man, who was apparently all right 
at the finish, fainted about fifteen minutes after 
boarding the launch, but this was probably due 
largely to the fact that he lay down in the stern 



158 Practical Eowing 

near the engine, where the air was close and hot. 
He revived after a short time, and showed no 
lasting ill effects. 

The case of the substitute stroke deserves more 
detailed description. The sudden responsibility 
thrown upon his shoulders, and the unavoidable 
hard work during the last three days before the 
race, had unquestionably affected him more seri- 
ously than any one else. He had lost about 5>^ 
pounds and had been troubled a great deal with 
insomnia and indigestion. After rowing an ex- 
ceedingly effective race for three miles, he sud- 
denly collapsed, and, during the last mile, was 
practically helpless and unconscious. After the 
race he remained in a semiconscious state for 
about an hour. He could be partially aroused 
with some difficulty, but wished to be let alone. 
He was then perspiring freely. His pulse was 
about 120, and rather weak, and respiration was 
rapid and sighing. The din of whistles and guns 
forbade a careful examination of the heart, but a 
superficial examination revealed nothing but a rapid, 
weak action. The temperature could not be accu- 
rately determined until an hour after the race, 
when it was 100.4° '^^ the axilla. It was probably 
considerably higher than this at first, as meantime 
he had been repeatedly douched with cold water 
and had perspired freely. After reaching the 



The Effects of Training 159 

quarters he swallowed a cup of hot bouillon, but 
immediately vomited it. During the afternoon he 
remained quiet and comfortable, but complained 
of great drowsiness. In the evening he was able 
to retain some toast with hot water. 

He passed from under the writer's observation 
at that time; but in a letter written four weeks 
later he stated that, while he recovered from the 
immediate effects within two or three days, he had 
not yet entirely regained his former vigor. The 
symptoms described were those of collapse due to 
over-exertion when not in perfect condition, and 
in all probability greatly intensified by the heat. 
He said afterward that he remembered feeling 
unusually hot before the race. He had already 
had an attack of heat prostration several years 
before, which may have predisposed him to this. 
The occurrence was a very unfortunate one, but 
it is only fair to regard it as accidental, because 
resulting from a combination of circumstances 
which could not have been foreseen. 

IV. AFTER-EFFECTS OF TRAINING 

Between June, 1899, and the spring of 1900, 
examinations were made as occasion arose of the 
men comprising the rowing squad of 1899, to 
determine, as far as possible, the after-effects of 
training, and particularly to study the duration 



160 Practical Rowing 

of the cardiac and renal disturbances. Eight of 
the twelve men comprising the squad were ex- 
amined and the results were practically uniform. 
As pointed out in another place, the heart during 
a period of training takes on a considerable degree 
of hypertrophy, while the immediate effect of a 
severe effort like a race is an acute dilatation. The 
later condition is a temporary one, and seems to 
become less marked with each succeeding effort 
if the training is successful; that is, if the man 
remains in good condition. The hypertrophy, on 
the contrary, appears to be a more or less per- 
manent change. In the case of the racing men it 
is to be remembered that they did not lapse into 
complete idleness after breaking training, but all 
kept up some kind of active exercise during the 
summer and autumn. This would of course to a 
certain extent prevent the return of the hearts 
to normal size. 

It must not be supposed, however, that hyper- 
trophy of the cardiac muscle from training is to be 
regarded as an undesirable thing any more than 
a corresponding hypertrophy of the biceps. It is 
conceivable that too frequent repetition of severe 
efforts might result in a permanent dilatation and 
loss of tone instead of in a true hypertrophy; but 
in these eight men there was no evidence that this 
had occurred. In every instance, save one, the 



The Effects of Training 161 

pulse had a normal rate and rhythm, the heart 
sounds were normal, and no adventitious sounds 
could be detected ; in fact, the only abnormal signs 
to be made out were an increase in the distance of 
the apex beat from the median line and a corre- 
sponding enlargement in the area of cardiac dul- 
ness. These measurements differed but little from 
the corresponding measurements made in June just 
before the race. 

The only exception was in the case of the man 
whose heart was profoundly disturbed during the 
period of training, as described in detail in a earlier 
paper. In March, 1900, nearly nine months after 
stopping training, examination of this man showed 
an irregular pulse rhythm. There was still a mur- 
mur, audible faintly but clearly at the apex and at 
the left sternal border. In this case, as pointed 
out before, there was probably an organic valvular 
lesion dating back to an early illness and not 
attributable to training. 

Examination of the urine of these eight men 
showed in most cases an early disappearance of 
the albumin and casts. One man, examined July 
17th and August loth, still presented a trace of albu- 
min but no casts. Further tests were impossible 
in this case, so the duration of the albuminuria is 
not known. 

Beyond the cardiac and renal conditions the men 

II 



162 Practical Rowing 

presented little of importance. Several stated that 
they had suffered from indigestion shortly after 
stopping training, due probably to the fact that 
they unconsciously continued the habit of eating 
large amounts of food after they had ceased to 
need it. Otherwise they all claimed to be in per- 
fect health, and their appearance did not belie their 
words. There was an increase in weight of from 
three to twenty pounds, not so much during the 
summer as during the following winter; but this 
may have been simply natural increase in fat com- 
monly seen in cold weather. 

In summary, it may be said that no ill effects, 
which could reasonably be attributed to training, 
were to be discovered nine months after stopping 
the training. 



DIETARY AND DIGESTION EXPERIMENT 

SUMMARY 

In June, 1900, a study was made of the actual amounts 
and composition of food eaten by four members of the Har- 
vard University crew during one week of active training 
immediately preceding a race. The data obtained also in- 
cluded the statistics of the quantity and composition of solid 
and liquid excreta, during the same period. The investiga- 
tion thus included a dietary study, a digestion experiment, 
a study of excreta, and a nitrogen metabolism experiment. . 

Dietary study. — The four men ate on the average 154 
grams of protein, 139 grams of fat, 473 grams of carbohy- 
drates with a fuel value of 3925 calories per man per day. 
The results compare with the results of other studies as 
follows : 



Four members of Harvard University crew, New 
London, 1900 

Harvard University crew, New London, 1898 . . 

Average Harvard and Yale University and Fresh- 
men crews, Cambridge, New Haven, and New 
London, 1898 

Average -^^^ dietaries of men at ordinary occupations 
in the United States 



Protein. 



Energy. 



Grams. 


Calories. 


160 


3925 

3945 


155 


3955 


102 


Zl^"^ 



It thus appears that the four men ate just about as much 
as the Harvard and Yale crews in 1898, and that their food 



1G4 Pi^actical Rowmg 



had about 50% more protein and 16% more energy than that 
of the men at ordinary occupations in the United States 
whose dietaries have been studied. 

Digestion experiments, — Comparison of the amounts of 
nutrients in the food with those in the solid excreta shows 
the amounts which were actually available. These were 
nearly, but not quite, the same as the amounts actually 
digested. They differ from the latter by the amounts of 
metabolic products in the feces. The average coefficients 
of availability in these digestion experiments were: 

Protein 92.2 

Fat 95.6 

Carbohydrates 98-1% 

Energy 91.85J 

These figures are very nearly identical with those obtained 
by taking the coefficients of availability of food as found 
by experiments with men on ordinary diet and at ordinary 
occupations and applying them to the diet of the men in 
the present experiment. This means that the four athletes, 
on the average, digested their food just about as completely 
as the average man does. There were, however, marked 
differences in their capacities to digest their food. 

Studies of the excreta. — No special studies were made 
of the composition of the feces. Comparisons of the urea 
and uric acid in the urine failed to bring any results such 
as to warrant conclusions regarding the effect of severe mus- 
cular exercise on their amounts. 

Nitrogen balance. — One notable feature of the experi- 
ments was found in the fact that the nitrogen excreted by 
the kidneys and intestines was considerably less in amount 
than the total nitrogen of the food. This means that there 
was a considerable storage of nitrogen in the body. The 
amount was such as to correspond to an average of not far 



The Ejects of Training 165 

from 24 grams of protein per day if no allowance be made 
for the excretion of nitrogenous compounds in perspiration 
through the skin. Even after making allowance for a very 
considerable excretion of nitrogen through the skin, this gain 
is so noticeable as to suggest the queries whether men who 
are storing nitrogen to such an extent are in the best physical 
condition, and whether the amount of protein in the diet was 
the most appropriate for the purpose. 

Need for further research. — Perhaps the most important 
conclusion to be derived from the experiments is that further 
and more detailed investigations are needed to show what 
diet is best for men under such severe muscular strain as 
that of oarsmen in training for races. 

A Study of the Food consumed and digested by Four Members of 
the Harvard University Boat Crew in fune, i(poo^ by W. O, 
Atwater and F. G. Benedict. Reprinted by permission of the 
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal from Vol. CLXIV, 26, 
pp. 601-629. 



INDEX 



Adjustment of food to needs, 145. 
Albuminuria, 140, 161. 
Attention, 35. See also Holding. 
Atwater, Prof. W. O., 149. 
Auscultation, 109. 

"Baby** idea, 71, 75. 

Backing, oar blade reversed from 

rowing position, 37. 
, not to be undertaken till boat is 

stopped, 2,7- 
Balance, 13, 92. 
Basket of eggs catch, 63« 
Bathing, 113, 
Beat, 15. 
Beginning, 86. 
Benedict, Dr. F. J., 149. 
Bevel, 79, 
Blade, 67. 
Blending, 25. 
Blood, 143. 
Body reach, 52, 
Bow Four, ^Z- 
Breakfast, 113. 
Breathing, 52. 
Broken-winded, 146. 
Button, 29. 

Cardiac dulness, 133, 153, 161. 

Carpet-slipper rowing, 68. 

Catch, 5. 

Change of direction, 63. 

Chopping in, 63. 

Circulatory system, 127. 

Clipping, 64. See Rowing in. 



Coaching, 2, loi. 

Collapse, 156, 158. 

Compensatory hypertrophy, 132, 

136. 

Coxswain, 56. 

Crabbing, or catching a crab, 90, 
Crew unit, 2, 70, 87, 131. 
Cutting under, 67. 

Diet, 113, 121, 143, 146. 
Digestion and dietary experiment, 

163. 

Digestive system, 143. 
Dilatation, 132, 136, 137, 160. 
Dinner, 113. 
Drive, 6. 
Drop shoot, 36. 

Eating, improper methods of, 143, 

162. See Mastication. 
Elbows, 49, 

Energy from oxidation, 120, 
Epigastric pulsation, 127. 
Exercise, 114. 
Eyes in the boat. See Time. 

Falling over on reach, 22. 
Feather, taking off the, 75, 'j^^^ 86. 
Feathering under water, 66. 
Finish, 10, 53, 66, 86. 
Following, 7, 24. 
Food, eating too much and too fast, 

143, 162. 
Football, no, 150, 155. 
Form and substance, 71, 72, 86. 



168 



Index 



Framework, strong braces the only 
interior parts to be used in lifting 
shell in or out of the water, ^2. 

Full reach, 65. 

GATHER-catch in sculling, 96. 
Getting in, 32, 90. 

Hands, 54. 

Hanging, 20. 

Heart, size of, 127, 131, 

measurements, 129. 

sounds, 133, 137, 152 

, apex beat of, 127. 

Hindsight, 99. 

Holding, a controlled under-water 
feather. Done from " Attention " 
by depressing forward edge of 
blade, ^y. 

Horizontal squat, 50. 

lift, 50. 

Hyperaemia, 142. 

Hypertrophy, 132, 136, 160. 

Indigestion, 143, 157, 162. 
Individuality, 2, 70, 87, 131. 
Inertia, 14. 
Initial velocity, 24. 
Insomnia, 116. 
Intuition, 102. 

Keeping warm, 43. 
Kicking out the slide, 8, 41, 71. 
Kidneys, 138, 154. 
Knees, 51. 

Landing, 68. 

Leather, 29. 

Lehmann, R. C, 86. 

" Let her run " (stop rowing), ^y. 

Lever, 51, 54, 80. 

Life, 71, 7y 

Lightness of construction of shell, 32. 



Limbering up, 96. 
Lunch, 113. 
Lungs, 52. 

Marathon runners, 125, 137. 

Mastication, 145. 

Meeting the oar, 27, 98. 

Metabolism, 108, 139. 

Momentum, 74. 

Muscles, 50, 86, 120, 131, 137, 147. 

Nephritis, 142. 
Nervous fatigue, 148. 
Nitrogenous material in excess, a 
mistake in diet, 121; 165. 
metabolism, 139. 



Nutrition, 147. 

Oarlock, 35, 76. See Rowlock. 
Over-the-keel habit, 47. 
Over-training, 126, 145, 146. 
Overworking the recover, 81. 

Paddling, yi,, 74. 

Passengers, 74. 

Pathological conditions approached, 

142, 148. 
Percussion, 109. 
Phonendoscope, 109. 
Play to win, 87. 
Precordia, 127. 
Preliminary training, no. 
Preparatory school rowing, no. 
Proteids, 144. 
Protein, 165. 
Pull, 49, 81. 
Pulse, 136, 153, 158, 161. 

Quality tells, 18, 138. 
Quickness, 70. 

Radiation, 126. 

Reach, 19, 65. 



Index 



169 



Ready, 36. 

Recover, 12, 81, 86. 

Reserve fuel, glycogen and fat, 120. 

Rhythm, 25, 86. 

Rowing by fours, 33. 

into the lap, 62. 

in, or clipping, 64. 

Rowlock, 76. 
Rudder, use of, 57. 
Running, no, 125. 
Rushing, 15, 47, 74. 

School rowing, no. 
Sculling, single, i, 88. 
Sculls, 89. 
Shoot, 23. 
Shuffling, 68. 
Sleep, Zy, 113, 156. 
Slide reach, 36, 86. 

rush. See Rushing. 

Slow and slowed slides, 82, 84. 
Slumping, 26. 
Spoon oar, 64. 
Staleness, 120, 125. 
Stealing a march, 13, 76, 82. 
Steering, 57. 
Stomach, 52, 143. 
Stretcher, 75. 
Stroke, 82. 
unit, 35. 



"Style and the oar,»' Z6. 
Sweeps, I, 76. 

Swinging around the oar, 44. 
Systolic murmur, 133, 152, 153. 

Temperature, 121, 124, 126. 

Thighs, 52. 

Time, — eyes in the boat, 48. 

Time-row, 118. 

Tissue metabolism, 108. 

Track for slide, boat not to be lifted 

out or in by, 32. 
Training, no. See Under-training 

and Over-training, 
after effects of, 159, 162. 



Turning, 58, 60. 

Under-training, 145. 
Urine tests, 139. 

Vital capacity, iii. 

Waist-four, 34. 

Weight, Causes of fluctuation in, 

116, 118, 156. 

, in training, 120. 

Williams and Arnold, Drs., in Phila. 

Med. Journal, 125, 137. 
Wind resistance, yy. 
Wound-up stroke, 18. 



9151 












J-Q^ 





fi-t^ 











\p^ 



v-^ 



* '^^^ .4 



■^c, 


















• • • 



'* o 




7? ^ • 



<rv * 













i-. **'^** •«: ^-Z r'^-t %.**•! 












^^.*^ .V'^B^-. %,^<^ .♦iRl^^% ^ 



^. ' 




* •??• V . 



•^ 0* 











**5'^»!'* 



'"^. 




o.% 



^4 % c-VV\YV_w __ 



• <?r. i^'i' ♦J' 









'-^^•^ 



VVtRT 
BOOKBINDING 

MVDDlETOW««. PA. 

DEC. 83 







mm 
















f' -n 










